


Sealing the Deal

by redskiez



Series: Naruto Rare Pair Week 2020 [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Historical, Arranged Marriage, Background Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke - Freeform, Background Sai/Yamanaka Ino - Freeform, Crossdressing, Day 5, Deidara and Ino are twins, Feminization, Forced Crossdressing, Forced Feminization, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke - Freeform, Historical Inaccuracy, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Naruto Rare Pair Week, Naruto Rare Pair Week 2020, Period-Typical Homophobia, Sai/Yamanaka Ino - Freeform, TobiDei - Freeform, Yamanaka Deidara, obidei
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:22:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 24,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24056662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redskiez/pseuds/redskiez
Summary: To ensure the Yamanaka Clan is further protected, they strike a deal with the daimyo clan of the Uchiha. Ino is chosen to marry one of the Uchiha, but she elopes with her lover the night before she is supposed to be wedded. Inoichi decides against calling off the deal to save face and demands Deidara, her twin brother, to take her place.
Relationships: Deidara/Tobi (Naruto), Deidara/Uchiha Obito
Series: Naruto Rare Pair Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729099
Comments: 162
Kudos: 255





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SweetAlphaChild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetAlphaChild/gifts).



> Anonymous said:  
> Could we have an obidei historical au + an arranged marriage??
> 
> Also loosely inspired by [_Believe it? Deidara is Tobi's Hanayome!_ by LuneDe](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4062930/1/Believe-it-Deidara-is-Tobi-s-Hanayome) on FanFiction.Net.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Naruto Rare Pair Week 2020  
> Day 5: **Arranged Marriage/Marriage of Convenience** | "Dance as if no one is watching. Sing as if no one is listening. Love as if you have never been hurt." - Unknown.

The birds in their cages squawk and flap their wings loudly as another land at the pole. Rushio hurries to the bird and, after checking where the bird came from, unclasps the message from the bird’s talons.

He gives the bird a treat and it flies away, disappearing into the dark sky.

Rushio hurries down from the tower and enters the village leader’s ward.

“Hey, Rushio,” Jin says as Rushio approaches the leader’s office.

“Jin,” Rushio greets Jin, “is Inoichi in?”

“Yeah, he just came back from a meeting. What’s up?”

“Mail from the Uchiha Clan came,” Rushio says. He holds up the scroll. “It says it’s for Master Inoichi only.”

Jin nods and he turns around. He knocks on the door and announces, “The keeper has arrived with news from the Uchiha Clan!”

“Enter!” Inoichi shouts.

Jin opens the door for Rushio and the man hurries inside. He hands Inoichi the scroll and leaves.

Inoichi waits until Jin closes the door before he unrolls the scroll. He scans the words on the message and heaves out a big sigh. Tension seeps from his shoulders and he rests his head back against the chair.

“Finally, some good news,” he mutters to himself. Almost immediately afterward, the village leader stands from his desk and snuffs out the candles in his room. He heads outside and lets Jin end his shift early, telling him he can take a break for the rest of the night after finding his overnight replacement.

Inoichi heads down the wooden hallway of his home and stops at the entrance of his children’s rooms. He kneels and raps on the door.

“May I come in, children?” Inoichi calls.

“Yes,” Deidara replies.

Inoichi slides open the door and enters their room. He offers Deidara a grin and turns to Ino.

“I have great news, daughter,” he says. Ino refuses to meet her father’s eyes. “The Uchiha Clan has agreed to our proposal and you are to be sent off to Konoha by the morrow.”

Ino says nothing. She closes her eyes and curls into a ball.

“Don’t be sad, Ino,” Inoichi says. “I made them promise to choose the best husband for you. Your marriage to him would ensure the protection of our lands. We won’t have to worry about bandit raids ever again.”

“Why can’t we just ask the shogun for help?” Ino protests.

“He would never pay attention to a small clan like us. We don’t provide him with enough resources to be counted as important,” Inoichi replies. “We can only rely on the daimyo clans.”

“It’s not fair,” Ino says. “I already love someone else; I can’t betray him like that!”

“Forget about that boy,” Inoichi says with a huff. “He is not worthy of you anyway. Who does he think he is asking for your hand? He doesn’t even know his family name!”

Ino buries her face into the crook of her arm.

“Father,” Deidara says slowly, feeling sorry for his twin sister, “maybe you should leave her alone. It’s not easy taking all of this in at once, hm.”

Inoichi sighs. “You’re right,” he says. He reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder, but he stops himself just short and stands. “I’ll be taking my leave, then. Deidara, can you ensure your sister is packed before you sleep? I will send an escort to pick her up an hour after sunrise.”

“Sure,” Deidara replies and Inoichi leaves the room.

Deidara turns back to his sister. Ino is quiet for a long time. He crawls over to her side of the room and gathers her into a hug.

“I don’t understand why we have to do this,” Ino cries the moment Deidara wraps his arms around her.

“It’s for our protection, yeah,” Deidara says.

“You don’t even sound convinced.”

“I think we can still deal with the bandit raids,” Deidara admits. “It’s not like we really suffered from them. They’re more so a nuisance than a threat, hm.”

“Father would never think of it like that,” Ino moans. “I am doomed to a loveless marriage!”

“It probably won’t be that bad,” says Deidara. “Maybe the Uchiha Clan really did choose a man that would treat you right.”

“Do you really think so? Didn’t you get bullied by one of them?”

Deidara clicks his tongue and lets go of Ino. “You don’t have to remind me of that every time, yeah,” he mutters. “It was just that one time.”

“What if they are all the same, brother?”

“Just write to us,” Deidara says. “If anything happens, I will defend you, hm.”

Ino shakes her head.

After Deidara helps Ino pack up all of her belongings into three cases, he snuffs out all the candles in their room and burrows into his futon. Moments later, he hears quiet rustling at the courtyard. Then, their door opens slowly. Deidara turns to face the door, unsurprised to find Sai there.

“Hello,” Sai says with a fake smile.

“Urgh,” Deidara mutters. “You need to work on your stealth, hm.”

“Sorry,” Sai replies. He turns to Ino and taps on her shoulder. “Ino, I’m here.”

Ino mutters under her breath. Sai turns to Deidara.

“Father just got news today, yeah,” Deidara says. “She’s to be sent to the Uchiha tomorrow morning.”

Sai pales. He hurries to take off his shoes and enters their room, kneeling beside Ino’s curled up form. “Ino,” he says, “we can still make this right.”

“There’s no way,” Ino cries. “Father will send me off tomorrow. We can’t do anything.”

“That’s not true,” Sai says. “We can still run away.”

“Run away?” Ino asks. “But to where? You have no home and this place is all I’ve known.”

Deidara sits up from his futon. “I know a place in the Suna region,” he says. “A friend of mine lives in the Akasuna area. He owes me a favor from when we were at the art academy together, yeah. He’ll help you if you mention my name.”

“Does he know I am your twin?” Ino asks.

“I mentioned I have a sister,” Deidara replies, “but he doesn’t know we’re twins. If he mistakes you for me, then tell him, ‘fuck you,’ and hit him, hm. He’ll realize who you are.”

“Thank you,” Sai says. “I don’t know how to repay you.”

“Just owe me a favor,” Deidara says with a grin.

“What’s the guy’s name?”

“Sasori,” he says.

“Alright,” says Sai. “We’ll leave now.”

“Do you have a horse to carry all of these boxes with you? They’re quite heavy,” Deidara says.

“I have my donkey,” Sai replies.

“We can take my horse,” Ino says. “She’s not trained to carry things, but I’m sure she can help with something.”

Sai nods.

“When you head into Akasuna, ask for Sasori the Scorpion, hm,” Deidara says as he helps them carry the boxes out of the room. “No one will help you, but he’ll hear about you asking for him and find you himself, yeah.”

Ino frowns. “Your friend sounds scary,” she says.

“He has his days,” Deidara says. “There’s a reason why we were kicked out.”

Sai takes the last box from him and asks, “What are you going to do in the morning? Your father will find Ino missing.”

“I’ll feign ignorance, hm,” Deidara says with a boyish grin. “Then maybe he’ll finally listen to my plans to fight back against the bandits ourselves, yeah.”

Sai nods. “Good luck,” he says.

“Good luck to you,” Deidara says. “You need it more than me, hm.”

Ino hugs her brother for the final time, and with a tearful goodbye, the two lovebirds set off into the dark. Deidara shuts the door to his bedroom and sighs.

He glances at Ino’s now-empty futon and hopes that everything will go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A while ago, I told SweetAlphaChild about a story where Deidara is mistaken for Ino after she runs off with Sai, and he is married to Tobi after getting "recaptured." We couldn't find the fic for a long time and since this prompt list has an "arranged marriage" prompt, she told me to write a fic based off of the fic I mentioned to her for this day. I thought it was a good idea. Then just last night, I ended up finding the fic. It's very 2008, so don't judge it too harshly. It's also not finished. Still waiting, LuneDe.
> 
> I also realized that one of my Tumblr prompts asks for an arranged marriage, so I'm going to dedicate this fic to the anon who asked for it.
> 
> This particular prompt is taken from the [Fanfiction Trope Mash-Up List](http://redskiez.net/post/174684285753/fanfiction-trope-mash-up).
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	2. The Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Deidara startles from his position at his desk when Inoichi bursts into his room. His father looks around, eyes wide and hair slightly unkempt, and then makes a beeline toward his son.

“Where is Ino?” he demands.

“I thought she went out to be with the guards, yeah,” Deidara says.

“Well, none of them saw her,” Inoichi says. “She didn’t show up at all. When did you last see her?”

“Last night,” Deidara replies. “She was gone by the time I woke up. I just assumed…”

Inoichi huffs loudly. He starts pacing around the room. “This cannot be,” he mutters to himself.

Deidara packs up his clay, worrying his bottom lip. “Maybe we don’t need this wedding, father,” he says slowly. “We can fight back the bandits ourselves. I have some training, yeah. If we can just get a few more guards, we can really—”

“Enough of that, Deidara,” Inoichi says, stern. Deidara presses his mouth into a thin line and turns away. “We can’t back out of this deal. Do you understand? We can’t lose face. The Yamanaka Clan doesn’t back out on promised deals!”

Deidara shakes his head.

“We need to find a solution, right now,” says Inoichi. Then, he falls silent. He stares at his son.

Deidara blinks, then he starts to panic. “Wait, father, you can’t possibly mean—”

“It’s the only way to save face,” Inoichi says. “Don’t worry, son. It will only be until we find Ino. All you need to do is to keep your head down and not to raise any suspicion.”

“But I can’t!” Deidara pleads. “I don’t even sound like Ino!”

“But you look like her,” Inoichi says. “You match the drawing we have sent to the Uchiha; we can just say the drawing is flipped if they ask about your hair.”

“It’s not possible,” Deidara says. “They will certainly find out. I don’t—”

“It won’t be long,” Inoichi cuts in. “We will have you returned before you know it. No one has to know.”

“Father, I don’t want to be married to a man, yeah.”

“No one has to know,” Inoichi says.

“Wouldn’t that be cheapening the ceremony? Ino wouldn’t be the one drinking the—”

“I know that,” Inoichi says, “but what choice do we have? Ino isn’t here and we are supposed to arrive by noon.”

“We can fight back on our own. We don’t need the Uchiha—”

“No, Deidara,” Inoichi snaps. “You need to understand that not everything will go your way.”

“Father, please, listen to me—”

“Enough, Deidara,” Inoichi says. “You will do as I say. Maybe for once, you’ll stop bringing this family shame and realize there are more ways to a solution than just violence.”

Deidara snaps his mouth shut and presses his lips into a thin line.

Inoichi turns to leave. Once he reaches the door, he pauses and says, “Get ready to head out in five minutes. Put on Ino’s clothes and pack only your essentials. Do not disappoint me.”

With that, Inoichi leaves, and Deidara is left staring at Ino’s closet. He hears a commotion outside as guards are being ordered left and right. Inoichi is ordering for a squad of men to head out and find Ino, using tracks found near the shed as their starting point.

He can also hear his father shouting orders to prepare Ino’s palanquin regardless. Deidara closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Part of him, selfishly, wants them to find Ino.

Moments later, he emerges from his room dressed in his sister’s new clothes and carrying a box. Deidara is a blushing mess as he heads out to the front gate. He watches as his father and mother get on board their own palanquin, neither of them turning to acknowledge their son.

Guards that he knows from childhood divert their gaze as they take the box from him and usher him into Ino’s palanquin.

They slide the curtains shut when he settles in and, within minutes, the palanquin is lifted from the ground and they are on the move.

He can hear voices from outside the chair, hushed conversations between the guards.

“It’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? Forcing his son to…”

“I’m just wondering how he can even get past the first night. How are you going to hide the fact that you’re not a girl when you’re expected to consummate the marriage?”

“That’s a good point. Do you think he can even stall the Uchiha for that long? I heard they’re barbarians in both the battlefield and in bed.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“From friends.”

“Quiet,” Inoichi shouts from his palanquin. “We can hear you.”

“Yikes,” mutters one of the guards.

Deidara shuts his eyes and knows that this will be a long, long trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A relatively short chapter just to continue to set the scene. I wanted to keep the introduction to the Uchiha Clan separated. I have already planned about six chapters ahead (including this one) so don't worry about me pulling another 2008 fanfic writer move and disappearing into the void after getting to the good part of the story (because I will probably disappear before I even get there, LOL!).
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	3. The Preparation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

When he hears shouting from afar, he understands that they have arrived at the Uchiha estate.

It only takes a couple more minutes for the palanquin to settle down and the curtains are drawn back. Deidara remains seated.

“Come on, Deidara,” one of the guard whispers. “We understand how hard this is for you, but you shouldn’t drag this out.”

Deidara just shakes his head.

“We promise we’ll find Ino soon,” another guard says in a hushed tone. “We’ll get her back, so you don’t have to suffer this humiliation.”

“What do you know about humiliation?” Deidara spits.

The guards share a glance with each other but they say nothing else. They let Deidara off the palanquin and two Uchiha approaches them.

“We are to escort Miss Ino to her quarters,” one of them says.

The Yamanaka guards nod and Deidara is hurried toward the bride’s quarters. Deidara struggles to keep himself from tackling the escorts. He takes a deep breath, hands shaking with rage, and shuts his eyes.

He is sat down in front of a vanity and many of the Uchiha women start to dress him up. They tell him how much prettier he is than the drawing they have been sent. They marvel at the wonderful condition of his skin and the length of his eyelashes, and the lushness of his hair which they let down, which all make him want to throw up in his mouth.

They style his hair into a kind of topknot he has never seen before and put all sorts of accessories into it.

One of the women carries a brush and a pot filled with powder. He glances at it and then freezes when she asks, “You are a virgin, yes?”

Blushing, Deidara nods.

The woman smiles. She slathers the powder, a type of white foundation, on his skin and another paints his lips red. They dust a soft pink on his cheeks and a deeper pink at the outer corner of his eyes. After filling in his eyebrows, they hurry to the closet and gesture to the bridal kimono.

“Would you like us to dress you?” one of the Uchiha women asks.

Deidara shakes his head. The women nod and filter out of the room, but Deidara stands and gestures wildly when he spots a familiar face. He hurries and takes Sakura’s wrist and Sakura grins.

“I didn’t think you were such a prude, Ino,” Sakura giggles. She turns to the other Uchiha women and says, “I know her from childhood. We grew up together.” The rest of the women nod and walk out and then only Sakura remains.

“I guess you want to have a quick lesson on etiquette,” says Sakura when the doors slide shut. “I understand. I had a hard time adjusting to their rules and traditions when I was here. There are so many sets of manners you have to learn—”

“Sakura,” Deidara says.

“Wait,” Sakura says. “Deidara?”

Deidara nods. “You have to help me, yeah,” he says.

“Are you looped in by mistake? But no… A parent can always tell their children apart.”

“No,” Deidara says, “I was told to take Ino’s place because she ran away. Father told me to pretend until they can find her. Please, you have to help me. I don’t know what to do, hm.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” Sakura says. She then shakes her head and takes Deidara’s hands. “Don’t worry, I understand,” she says. “I will help you. What do you know about how women should act?”

“Um, polite?”

Sakura takes a deep breath. “I see that we have a lot of learning ahead of us,” she says. “It will take too long to explain how a woman should talk, so you should stay silent for the wedding.”

“I can’t pretend anyway, hm,” Deidara says.

She shakes her head. “First of all, let’s get you in this dress,” Sakura says. She takes the dress off where it’s hanging from and holds it out for Deidara. “Then, I’ll talk you through table manners and how you should act around your new husband.”

Deidara gags at the mention of that word. Sakura gives him a sad look but otherwise says nothing. He strips himself of his clothes and lets Sakura help him put on the wedding kimono. He presses his lips into a thin line as she intricately ties everything together and explains manners to him at the same time.

“But I don’t understand,” Deidara says.

“Alright,” Sakura says when she is done, “if you forget anything, just look at me during the dinner and I’ll remind you. Copy everything that I do, okay?”

Deidara swallows and he nods.

“You mustn't act out to your husband,” she reminds him. “I know how you can get, but you need to pretend to be alright with everything that he’s doing. Tobi’s not a bad man, but he’s still a man. You need to pretend to be interested in everything that he’s saying.”

Deidara nods, then he pauses. “What?” he mutters.

“It’ll be easier in the long run,” Sakura says. “It makes the man like you more. I deal with Sasuke the same way.”

He smiles a little at her words, but it fades quickly. “Do I need to know anything for the wedding ceremony itself, hm?” he asks.

“Do you know how Shinto weddings work?”

“Yes.”

“It’s more or less like that,” she explains, “but the Uchiha want you to pledge your loyalty to Master Madara as well since you are a foreign addition to the family.”

“The daimyo?”

“Yes,” she says with a sigh. “They treat him like a god and sometimes I don’t doubt that it’s far from the truth. I heard he’s almost a hundred years old, but he doesn’t like a day older than fifty.” She grabs the _tsunokakushi_ and wraps it expertly around his styled hair.

Deidara makes a face, which makes Sakura click her tongue.

“Ladies don’t make faces like that,” she says.

Deidara scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Being a lady sucks,” he says.

“It’s all I’ve known.”

“Oh, no offense.”

“None taken,” Sakura says. She turns and faces the door. “I think it’s almost time. You were supposed to meet the family before you went ahead with the wedding, but I heard that we are going to skip that.”

“We were late because they thought they can still find Ino, yeah.”

Sakura turns and looks at him. Her eyes are narrowed, and her eyebrows scrunched. Then, she shakes her head and says, “You know more than you let on. Tell me if you like, but I’m going to help you regardless. It would make me feel better if I knew completely what’s going on.”

She takes his hand and walks him out of the room, leaving him no chance to speak up next.

“There you are.” A familiar voice sounds from behind them and Deidara turns to find Itachi there. He clenches his teeth. Itachi gives him a one over and nods. “An appropriate bride for my older brother,” he says. “Looks kind of like the kid I met in the art academy a while ago.”

“Probably because she’s his twin bro—sister,” Sakura stutters. She responds to Itachi’s questioning look with a smile and he shrugs it off.

“Is your brother here, then, Ino?” Itachi asks.

Deidara presses his lips into a thin line.

“He’s not invited,” Sakura says. “We have to get going, we’re late for the ceremony.”

“Ah, you’re right,” says Itachi. “Come on, then, let’s not waste any time. Tobi’s waiting.”

Deidara takes a deep breath and he walks with Sakura to the backyard, crossing under the torii and Sakura lets him go just before the small Shinto shrine.

There, he is on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I add the Sakura/Sasuke couple tag? They're not really majorly focused on but they are referenced.
> 
> Obviously, I want to do a quick disclaimer that I did the literal bare minimum in researching traditional Japanese weddings. I gathered it's sort of similar to Chinese traditional weddings but instead of red, they wear white (kind of weird as white is also the color for funerals), so I'm just going to go with that. Don't get mad.
> 
> Next chapter: we meet Tobi!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	4. The Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

A man who must be Tobi greets him. He is wearing a black crested jacket along with his kimono and Deidara blushes deeply. He turns away when Tobi dips his head. Tobi makes a face and then they walk down the aisle together. They are followed by a band of people behind them, three men playing instruments and four women with bells, as they walk toward the shrine where the priest and the shrine maiden are standing either side of it.

The two of them kneel in sync in front of the table before the shrine.

Deidara doesn’t pay any attention to the priest as he performs a purification ritual and presents the two of them, Yamanaka Ino and Uchiha Obito, to the shrine’s god. He asks the god to bless their marriage and when he’s done, he kneels and pours sake into the three little cups in front of them.

When he is done, the priest says, “You may now drink from the cup, to represent man.”

Deidara wants to grab the drinks first, but he stops himself. His husband grabs the first cup and takes a sip from it, then he hands it to Deidara. Deidara’s eyebrows furrow, but he takes it drinks the remaining sake.

The priest then says, “You may now drink from the second cup, to represent the woman.”

Deidara takes the second cup, drinking half the cup and then handing it to Tobi. Tobi takes it and finishes the drink. The priest moves on to the third cup, saying, “And you may now drink from the second cup, to represent the child.”

Tobi takes the cup again, drinks from it, and gives it to Deidara. Deidara blushes at the implication of the drink, but he takes it anyway. When they are done, the priest announces their official status as a married couple in the eyes of the god.

He moves to face Deidara and asks him to pledge loyalty to the daimyo.

“You would forsake your family,” he says, “and pledge to willingly lay down your life for the daimyo Master Madara and protect him at all costs. Should he come to face misfortune and pass, you would willingly commit seppuku along with your husband, Obito.”

Deidara clenches his teeth. He does not look at the priest, staring only at the patch of grass to his side. Then, he feels a hand on his knee. Deidara turns to glare at his husband, who offers him a reassuring grin. His expression makes the pit of his stomach burn and he blushes at the feeling, horrified with himself. He turns away and nods quickly at the priest.

The priest turns to Obito and says, “You may now speak your vows.”

Obito turns to Deidara, but Deidara is not looking at him. He says his speech anyway, none of which Deidara pays attention to. He hears, to some extent, something about eternal devotion and gratitude, and that he would never leave his wife behind. He says something along the lines of providing and protecting him for as long as he breathes. Deidara turns away again, unable to handle the complicated feelings the speech invokes in him.

“And to Mr. Inoichi,” Obito says, “thank you for arranging this union, for your daughter is one of the most beautiful women I’ve had the pleasure to meet, and for that, I believe I am a very lucky man.”

Everyone claps politely, and Inoichi bows his head.

The priest then raises his hands and says, “Everyone, you may now drink the sake.”

Everyone grabs a cup in front of them and raise their hands. “Cheers!” they all exclaim and down their drinks. When they are done, the priest turns and offers Japanese evergreen to the altar, murmuring thanks to the gods for blessing the union. He then gestures for Tobi and Deidara to offer gifts of their own.

Two small children, one Yamanaka and one Uchiha, hurry to their side and hands them their respective gifts. For Deidara, he holds a small bundle of bauhinia orchid tree flowers. These flowers are rare in the Yamanaka lands, and he has never seen a tree in their fields.

Obito holds a special-made fan and Deidara scoffs softly. They walk forward and offer their gifts to the alter.

The priest then asks for their fathers to offer their own gifts. When they are done, the shrine maiden presents the newlyweds with their wedding bands. Obito takes the one made for Ino and holds out his hand. Deidara takes a deep breath, worried for a second, and gives his hand to Tobi.

The ring slips on, albeit just a little tight. Deidara squeezes his eyes shut for a second before he does the same for Tobi.

The priest announces the end of the wedding and wishes, in prayer, for the couple to work to maintain a respectful home and for them to have children.

“Have a boy and a girl,” an older Uchiha woman says with a soft smile, “it would be a nice balance to the family.”

“In other words,” says the man standing next to her, “having three boys is much too much trouble.”

Obito grins and scratches the back of his head. Deidara feels the tip of his ears burn and he must be red enough for the older man and woman to notice, as they laugh heartily.

“Let’s move on to the reception, shall we, my dear wife?” Obito whispers to Deidara. He places a hand on his arm and Deidara has to suppress a shiver.

He nods and Obito grins. Obito lets go of him and heads to the reception with the rest of his family. Immediately, Sakura and his mother appear by his side.

“You did well,” his mother murmurs to him.

“Better than what I would have done if I were in your position,” says Sakura.

Deidara refrains from answering. He just sighs deeply and shakes his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, a dumbass, not noticing that there's a whole ass Wikipedia page for Shinto weddings. Turns out they _do_ wear red for weddings, but it's only during the reception and not during the ceremony, which is still kind of weird. Though, their white kimonos usually have red lining inside, apparently. I don't see any on the lady in the picture I'm referencing, though.
> 
> Next chapter: fun with the in-laws and Deidara's new husband reveals more of himself.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	5. The Reception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Deidara sighs as he sits down in front of the vanity again. He peels off the headdress and tosses it at the mirror.

“Don’t throw a tantrum now, Deidara,” his mother says.

“It’s hard on him,” Sakura says, “he’s already doing his best.” She holds out the red kimono for the reception. “Deidara, you need to change into this. Don’t worry about your makeup, it needs to come off anyway.”

Deidara huffs. He takes off his bridal kimono and puts on the red one. His mother undoes his hair and puts it up in a more traditional Yamanaka style. Sakura wipes the white makeup off his face and redoes his eyes and lips.

“Do you remember what I said about table manners?” Sakura asks as she paints the red on his lips.

“A little,” he replies.

“Just remember to always keep your arms to your side. You’re expected to pour sake for your husband, so remember to do that. You also need to refill it whenever it’s empty. Use two hands and make sure the label is facing skyward when you pour.”

“Two hands, hm?”

“One to hold the neck,” Sakura says, putting down the paint and mimicking the movement with her hands, “and one to hold the bottom of the bottle.”

Deidara nods. “What if he wants to talk to me?”

“Just smile politely and refuse to talk,” replies Sakura. “Tobi is very understanding. He’s desperate for a wife after being single for thirty years.”

Deidara frowns. “How old is he?”

“Thirty-two this year,” she says.

“Ino was going to be married to a thirty-two-year-old?” Deidara asks. “We’re only turning twenty this year.”

Sakura shrugs. “That’s the nature of these weddings,” she says. “I got lucky.”

“Not a lot of women get to choose who they end up getting married to,” his mother says. She finishes up with his hair and gives his shoulders a pat. “You’re lucky that Tobi seems to be a reasonable man.”

“You mean Ino is lucky,” Deidara mutters.

“Well, yes,” his mother says, “but also you because you’re taking her place until we can find her. Who knows what your husband will do before that time?”

Deidara looks at his folded hands.

“Don’t worry,” Sakura says. “I can promise you that Tobi isn’t the type to do anything like that, especially not to you if you continue to pretend to be shy and quiet.”

“The consummation,” Deidara says in realization.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Sakura says, though she doesn’t sound convinced. “Tomorrow morning, I’m sure he’ll want to give you a tour around the place, but he’ll need to work for Madara first. He might ask for my husband to give you the tour, but just ask for me instead.”

Deidara nods.

“Alright,” says his mother, “we should get to the reception. They might be wondering what’s taking so long.”

“Remember,” Sakura says as the three of them walk out of the room, “just look at me when you forget anything.”

They enter the dining room and it is bustling with energy and chatter. At the front of the room, there is a group of dancers performing a traditional dance that Deidara doesn’t recognize. He is led to sit beside Obito by Sakura.

When he sits down, his husband turns to him with a silly grin. “This is one of our traditional dances,” he tells him. “I don’t think there are any other families out there who perform dances like these nowadays.”

Deidara offers him a weak smile and nods. Obito makes a noise and puts a few pieces of fish in his rice bowl. “You should eat,” he says, “you’re awfully skinny.”

Deidara wants to bite back that it’s because he does physical labor, unlike him, but he stops himself and just smiles. He glances at Sakura and when she nods toward the bottle of sake in front of him, he looks at Obito’s cup.

He sighs through his nose and picks up the sake bottle. He uncorks it and at Obito’s pleasantly surprised exhale, pours his cup until it’s full.

“Thank you, my wife,” Obito says.

Deidara stops himself just short of rolling his eyes and puts the bottle down. Itachi makes a huffing sound at the table adjacent to theirs.

“Why don’t you fill my cup too, little lady?” Itachi asks.

“She’s my wife, not yours,” says Obito.

Itachi clicks his tongue. “Should’ve been me marrying her instead of you, you know,” he says.

Deidara takes a deep breath and decides that he should start eating before he says something.

“I thought you hated the Yamanaka,” Obito says. “Didn’t you make fun of one back in the academy?”

“Yeah,” Itachi says, “because he looked like he was gay.”

Obito laughs. “Just because he looked like he was gay?”

“He probably is gay,” Itachi says. “Now that I think about it, I bet you he’s gay.”

“Is he here?”

“Nah,” Itachi says, taking a swig from his cup of sake, “Sakura said that he’s not invited. He’s your brother, isn’t he, Ino?”

Deidara nods.

“I wonder why he’s not invited,” Itachi asks. He swirls his drink and takes another swig.

Deidara clenches his teeth.

“Brother,” Obito says, “I think you should ask the Yamanaka family for that. If Ino wanted to tell you, she would have said so already.”

“Must be something embarrassing if she doesn’t want to say,” Itachi says. “This may be the last time you’re going to see your sister, and you still won’t come to say goodbye? That’s shitty brother behavior.”

“Or,” Sasuke pipes up, “he’s just eager to be rid of his sister.”

Deidara grips his chopsticks harder. He wishes he can drive them into both of their skulls.

“Now, now,” Obito says, “let’s not make any assumptions about someone who’s not here. Maybe you’d like to defend your brother’s honor, Ino?”

Deidara turns away.

“See?” Itachi says. “Even she doesn’t want to say. It has to be something embarrassing.”

Sasuke murmurs in agreement but then he yelps when Sakura jabs her elbow into his side. “What was that for?” he protests.

“Well, maybe Ino is just a little shy,” Obito says. “Today is a harsh day, after all.” He turns to Deidara, the same smile on his face, and he puts a hand on his knee. “I promise I will make an effort to understand you, dear Ino. How about we get to know each other a little bit?”

Deidara presses his lips together.

“That’s alright,” Obito says. “Maybe I’ll start.”

His husband goes on to explain how he got his nickname, Tobi, during his training to eventually take the mantle of the next daimyo should the time come. It’s unremarkable as Deidara expected. It had something to do with the fact that his mentor couldn’t read very well and mixed up the characters. His family and friends found it so funny that they decided to call him Tobi ironically and they just never stopped.

“It reminds me of a fun time,” he says, “a simpler time where I don’t have to worry as much.”

Obito looks distant then, a soft smile on his face that looks different to all the smiles he’s given Deidara. Deidara wonders what he’s thinking about. He looks sad for a second, then when he looks away and looks back at Deidara, the expression has already disappeared.

“How about you, Ino, my dear?” Obito asks. “Do you have any nicknames?”

Deidara says nothing.

“Ah,” says Obito, “I guess it’s the setting, isn’t it? There are too many people.” He nods as if he understands. “I guess we can continue the conversation tonight?”

Deidara nods and when he focuses on eating once more, he tries not to think about the nice smile Obito gave him and the sad look he had earlier.

After the dinner is over and the families have given their gifts to the newlyweds, the guests give them a final cheer and they get ready to depart.

Obito whispers to Deidara, saying, “You can say goodbye to your parents in private, my wife.”

Deidara clenches his jaw but he dips his head in gratitude and heads out with his parents. They are standing by the palanquins.

“Father, mother,” Deidara whispers.

Inoichi says nothing. His mother opens her arms and he hugs her.

“You’ll be alright, Deidara,” his mother murmurs into his hair. She pats his back and presses a comforting kiss on the top of his head. “We promise we’ll get you as soon as we find Ino.”

Deidara buries his face into his mother’s shoulder. He wants to tell them where to look for her, but he knows he shouldn’t. “Alright,” he mutters when they let go of each other.

“Behave,” Inoichi says and then he boards the palanquin. His mother gives him a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes and she follows Inoichi in.

Deidara watches them depart until he can’t see the Yamanaka Clan anymore.

Footsteps sound behind him and Deidara tenses when Obito stands next to him.

“I know it’s hard to leave your family behind,” he says, “but it’s a noble thing that you’re doing. Your family won’t have to suffer from those bandit attacks anymore, and you’ll also get extra coins from our trades. Your brother can finally train to become a fighter instead of an artist.”

Deidara huffs and turns away.

“Sorry,” his husband says, “did I say something wrong?”

Deidara shakes his head.

Obito smiles and gestures back to the Uchiha estate. “Let’s get to our room then,” he says. “It’s chilly out.”

Deidara says nothing as he follows Obito back indoors and to their new room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: the consummation...?
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	6. The Consummation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Obito starts to undo his ceremonial kimono the moment he steps into the room. Deidara lets out an undignified sound and Obito turns around, black jacket in hand.

“Is something wrong, my wife?” Obito asks.

Deidara’s eyes widen at the sight of Obito’s bare chest. Although he knows it’s wrong, he can’t help but take in the chiseled physique and the sun-kissed skin. Even though his husband’s right side is covered in battle scars, Deidara still can’t help but find him… well, attractive.

The realization hits Deidara and he shuts his eyes. He shakes his head.

“Okay,” Obito says. He approaches Deidara slowly, tossing his jacket across the room, and takes Deidara’s face into his hands. He makes Deidara look up at him. “Open your eyes,” he murmurs. “Don’t be nervous, my dear, I promise I’ll be gentle.”

Deidara says nothing.

Obito slides a thumb under Deidara’s eye and then trails it down to his lips, then, he murmurs, “May I?”

Deidara’s breath hitches in his throat and, against all better judgment, he nods.

Obito’s kiss is gentle and soft, and it doesn’t take him long to realize that Deidara has never kissed anyone before.

He moves his hand to grab a hold of Deidara’s jaw, urging him to tilt his head. Deidara lets out a soft noise as he feels Tobi’s tongue nudge against his lips and slips into his mouth.

However, when Obito tries to slide a hand into Deidara’s kimono, Deidara reaches out and breaks the kiss. Obito immediately pulls his hand back and looks at his wife with a smile.

“Too much?” he murmurs, running a thumb against Deidara’s cheek.

Deidara’s blush seems to answer him.

Obito nudges Deidara to the bed and, still dazed from the kiss, Deidara follows. He settles down on the straw mattress and Obito goes to settle between his legs as best as he can.

His husband leans forward and presses a kiss against his cheek. “You’re going to have to get out of that kimono if we are to…” Obito murmurs into his skin.

Deidara bolts upright and pushes Obito away. He is suddenly very aware of everything, especially his own arousal. At this realization, disgust fills him and his erection flags. Deidara is glad that the kimono he is wearing is thick enough to hide it in the first place.

Obito leans back, sitting down on his heels. He gives Deidara another smile and says, “You’re a virgin, right?” At Deidara’s nod, he continues, “I get it. It’s scary, especially that I’m so much older than you.”

He leans forward and presses another soft kiss on Deidara’s lips and mutters, “It’s okay, I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Deidara gaps and Obito winks at him. He can only watch as Obito pulls away completely and settles down beside him.

“I guess we can use this time to get to know each other a little,” Tobi says as he gets comfortable. “What do you want to know about me?”

Deidara turns to him, eyes wide. Obito laughs. “It’s alright,” he says.

After a few moments, Deidara points toward Obito’s scars. Tobi looks down at his chest and nods.

“I got these during the second year fighting for Master Madara,” Tobi explains. “There was an attempted invasion from the Iwa region. I was given the chance to fight alongside the Emperor’s personal guard’s son Kakashi as we commanded a fleet of samurai.”

Obito swallows thickly. “One of our men were in trouble. He wanted to leave him behind, but I wanted to save him,” he says. “I wasn’t successful, and I am lucky to even be alive right now.”

Deidara reaches out and rests a hand on Tobi’s chest. Obito’s smile turns from joyful to sad.

“When I got better,” Obito murmurs, “I went to confess to a girl, Rin, that I had liked since childhood. Unfortunately, I was too late. She’s married to Kakashi now.”

Deidara frowns. He removes his hand and Obito turns to him. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he says hurriedly. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’ve… I’ve moved on from her now.”

Deidara doesn’t answer him. He stays where he is. Somehow, the mention of another girl fills his heart with a bitter feeling.

“Well, how about you, then? Surely you would have a million suitors vying for your hand,” says Tobi.

Deidara is half-tempted to say something, something about a mystical man who is way better than Obito, but he catches himself and shuts his mouth. He frowns.

Obito notices and says, “I guess you don’t have to tell me. You didn’t really have much choice in marrying me. Whoever he is, I hope he was nice to you, and I hope I can be as nice as he was.”

Deidara furrows his eyebrows and doesn’t understand why his stomach flutters at such a promise, despite there being no competition at all. In fact, he has never had a crush on any girls before.

“I just don’t want to lose another pretty girl to another man again,” Obito says.

Deidara rolls his eyes and turns back to his husband. He doesn’t look at his face, but he stares at his shoulders and, after several long moments of hesitation, leans forward and hugs him.

Obito seems surprised. He doesn’t react until Deidara tries to pull away. He wraps his arms around Deidara and holds him there. They hug for a while, then Obito pats his back and says, “I think you should get out of this kimono… It can’t be comfortable. There are sleeping clothes for you in the chest.”

Deidara pulls away and gives him a look.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Obito says quickly. “I was just worried you would… I can close my eyes if you want or leave the room entirely.”

He shuts up when Deidara presses a finger against his lips and motions for him to shut his eyes. Obito does so and Deidara hurries to the chest. Deidara hides behind a separator and changes his clothes.

A part of him hates that the clothes fit perfectly, but he doesn’t express it as he heads back to the bed.

The smile Obito greets him with once he crawls back onto the mattress makes his stomach feel funny again, but he tries not to focus on it as he lies down.

“Are you tired?” Obito asks.

Deidara shuts his eyes and nods.

“We should sleep then,” he says. “You’ve had a very eventful day today.”

Deidara’s eyebrows furrow. An unbelievable wave of emotions washes through him and he can’t help tearing up.

Obito makes a noise of surprise and wraps an arm around his torso. “I’m sorry,” he says, “I didn’t mean to… Please, don’t be sad.”

Deidara presses the heels of his hands against his eyes, takes a sharp breath, and then shakes his head. Obito doesn’t try to speak up anymore. He lets Deidara cry, hugging him closer with each sob. When Deidara’s tears run dry and he stops sobbing, Obito presses a kiss on his forehead.

He feels like he wants to say something, but he stops himself just short and the two of them fall asleep just like that, wrapped around each other as the candles around them burn themselves out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that my updates seem a little slower compared to the start of the fic. I've been distracted by a lot of things. I'll try my best to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, I have only planned up to this chapter. I have another half a chapter planned but after this... I may need some time to think of what should happen next but it's been hard for me to focus recently, so I would appreciate any ideas that you might have for this story! Leave them in the comments if you'd like.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	7. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Deidara wakes up to the sound of rustling. He yawns and stretches, then he stops himself when he realizes he’s not alone.

“Ah,” Obito says as he puts on his armor, “you’re awake.”

Deidara opens his mouth to say something, but he snaps his mouth shut.

Obito gives him a sad look and gestures to the door. “I have to go help Master Madara with something,” he says. “It’s something I must do every day.” When Deidara nods, he continues and says, “I already asked if my brother could show you around the estate—”

Deidara takes in a deep breath.

“—but he said he’s busy today, so I asked my youngest instead.”

Deidara huffs.

“Oh, do you not want either of them?”

Deidara nods.

Tobi thinks for a moment. “What about his wife, then? Maybe you’d appreciate it more if you can spend your time with another girl.”

Deidara nods quickly.

His husband smiles. “I’ll tell them to fetch Sakura then, okay?” He then points to another door. “The bathroom is there,” he says, “if you want to get ready before seeing her again. You can ask for servants to help you, too, if you want. Just open the door and ask. They don’t mind.”

Obito grabs his sword and attaches it to his belt. He turns back to his wife and nods. “I have to go now,” he says. “I’m sorry that we can’t spend all our time together today. I do want to get to know you better still, but my duties call. I promise I’ll make it up to you tonight, okay?”

Deidara just nods.

Obito seems to sense his hurry and nods once again. “I’ll be going now,” he says before leaving the room.

Deidara hears a hushed conversation outside the door, where he can just barely make out Tobi asking the servants to ask Sakura to come to greet his wife instead of Sasuke, and then an array of footsteps heading to different directions.

He heads to the bathroom and sighs. He grabs a cloth and dips it into a bowl of water. He scrubs his face aggressively, until his skin starts to burn a little, and tosses the towel against the edge of the bowl.

He goes back into the bedroom and pours himself a cup of water to drink. Moments later, he hears a soft voice at the door.

“It’s me, Sakura.”

“Come in,” Deidara murmurs.

The door slides open and Sakura hurries in. She shuts the door behind her, and she makes her way toward him.

“How are you feeling?” she asks. “Are you okay?”

Deidara struggles to nod. He stands up and wraps his arms around her. She hesitantly returns the hug and pats him on the back.

“Did he do something to you?” she asks when he doesn’t let go. “Did he…?”

“No,” Deidara says. His voice is hoarse. “No, he didn’t,” he says. “You’re right. He’s a nice guy.”

“I’m glad,” Sakura says, “then are you okay?”

Deidara shakes his head. “I don’t know,” he admits. “I feel very tired, hm.”

“Why is that?”

“I feel like, as a brother, I should support Ino no matter what,” he says, “but I also feel like I shouldn’t bear this burden for her.”

Sakura looks at him, her expression unreadable. When she doesn’t immediately answer him, he shakes his head again. “Forget I said anything, yeah,” he says. “You should teach me how to—”

“No,” Sakura interrupts him. “No, Deidara, I completely get it.” She pauses, frowning. “Well, maybe not exactly, but I understand where you’re coming from. I can hardly blame you for not wanting to go through with this. It’s clear that you know way more about Ino’s situation than you let on, and I only hope that you trust me enough to tell me one day, but until then, I can’t really help you completely.”

Deidara bites his lower lip. He wants to tell her, but he thinks it is too soon. So, he says, “I will tell you, yeah, but not right now. I think… I think we should wait and see if my parents end up finding her.”

Sakura nods. “Alright,” she says. She gestures for him to sit down and she rummages through some drawers that Deidara never bothered to check last night. “For now, you need to get that old makeup off of your face,” she says.

Deidara touches his mouth. “I washed my face,” he says.

“That’s not enough,” Sakura says. “I helped create something that can get rid of the powder and paint completely. They should have put it in here…” She trails off as she looks through another drawer, then she lets out a soft, “ah!” when she finds the small jar.

She tells him to sit still as she applies the special liquid on a towel. It burns his skin slightly as she rubs it across his mouth, cheeks, and eyes.

“Why do you need this?” Deidara mutters as she cleans his face. “I thought you can just wipe it off.”

“I’ve done some research on my own time,” Sakura explains. “The powder they’re using is really bad for you.”

“I didn’t know you are allowed to read, hm,” Deidara says.

Sakura huffs and slaps the back of his head.

“Ouch!” Deidara shouts. “What did you do that for?”

“For being an idiot,” Sakura says.

“I pity your husband,” Deidara mutters.

“I heard that,” Sakura says. “You have to remember now, Deidara, when you’re here, you’re a woman.”

Deidara presses his lips into a thin line.

“You can’t speak out like this anymore,” she continues to say. “You especially shouldn’t speak out to me, or I won’t help you anymore.”

“Okay,” Deidara says quickly. “I’m sorry.”

“You better be,” Sakura murmurs. “Now, hold still. You still have some on your eyelid.”

Deidara shuts his eyes and lets Sakura wipe the final bit of powder off. He opens his eyes when she’s done.

Sakura replaces the jar and folds the towel, placing it on the table. She takes a step back, looking at him. “You know,” she says, “you do have very pretty eyes and wonderful eyelashes.”

Deidara scowls.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Sakura says. “You have to look the part if you want to act the part.”

“This sucks,” Deidara says with a pout, kicking his legs.

“Don’t be so childish,” Sakura says. She reaches for the other makeup items that are in the drawers and starts to get to work. “Your husband would appreciate it,” she murmurs as she dabs a brush into some black paint.

Deidara grumbles, but he listens to her and shuts his eyes. Moments later, she dusts on some final touches on his cheeks and grins. “You look great,” she says. “One of my best works, if I do say so myself.”

She grabs a mirror and holds it in front of him. He frowns as he takes in his reflection. There isn’t much done to his face compared to yesterday, but he is still unused to seeing himself like this. She has lined his eyes with black and, even though he knows it’s wrong, he quite likes it.

He swallows the thought and just nods feebly. Sakura puts the mirror back down.

“I should show you around the estate now,” Sakura says. “Tobi’s a good man, but he’s still got a temper.”

“A temper?” Deidara murmurs as he gets up.

Sakura nods. “One of those famous Uchiha tempers,” she says. “It helps make them great samurais, but it does nothing for them being husbands.”

Deidara lets out a weak laugh. Sakura gives him a shrug and goes to open the door.

They are greeted with a gaggle of servants, all huddled around the door. All of them stare at each other, eyes wide.

Sakura takes only a moment before she jumps to action. She stands right in front of Deidara, arm spread out to shield him. She opens her mouth to say something, but a few of the servants beat her to it.

“We won’t tell,” says one of the servants.

“Yes, we’ll be quiet,” says another, “but I want to know what’s going on.”

Sakura turns to Deidara, whose mouth is hanging open and eyes still wide. She puts a hand on his shoulder and gives him a reassuring squeeze and murmurs, “Don’t worry.”

Deidara gaps, mouth opening and closing with words that refuse to form. Sakura just grins.

“This just means you’ve got more people to teach you how to act like a proper lady,” she says and invites the servants into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to add the twist in the ending literally in the spur of the moment last night. Let's see where my brain decides to take this.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	8. The Breakfast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Deidara covers his face as Sakura explains the entire situation to the servants. After a while, one of them says, “That’s very noble of you.”

Deidara lowers his hand, giving them a look. They all begin to pipe up with varying other words of encouragement and support.

“I think it’s kind of cute,” one of them murmurs, though it is not quiet enough. “A little guy on guy… I wonder how that works?”

Another servant slaps her arm, muttering, “This is not the time, Matsuri.”

Matsuri scoffs. She turns to Deidara and asks, “What are you going to do if Master Obito finds out?”

Deidara doesn’t look up, face still covered by his hands. He just shakes his head. “I don’t know, yeah,” he murmurs. “I’m hoping he never does.”

“That’s not possible,” Matsuri says. “He’ll find out eventually… You guys are supposed to… Well, you know. His parents are anxious for a grandchild and Master Sasuke hasn’t provided that yet.”

“We’re too young,” Sakura interjects.

Matsuri just shrugs.

“Well, let’s just hope Deidara’s family finds his sister before Tobi gets suspicious, how about that?” Sakura says. “You guys need to help keep this secret now. Do you promise?”

The servants all nod.

“What would we get out of it?” Matsuri asks.

“Oh, shut up, Matsuri,” one of the servants say. “We don’t do things to get something in return. This is a noble act and he is already sacrificing a lot. We should help him just because we should, out of the kindness of our hearts.”

“That sounds lame,” Matsuri murmurs but she doesn’t speak up anymore.

Sakura nods. “Well, then,” she says, “you all should get back to work now, and we should get on with that tour, but how about some breakfast first? Are you hungry, Deidara?”

Deidara looks up at Sakura, thinks for a moment, and nods.

“Fubuki,” Sakura says, “can you help bring some breakfast in here? With tea as well, please.”

Fubuki nods and she ushers the rest of the servants out of the room.

It doesn’t take long for Fubuki and two other maids to return with two trays of food and something to drink. They set up the food on the table in the middle of the room and the other two hurries to leave. Only Fubuki remains as she sets up the equipment for the tea, beginning by mixing the leaves with some water.

Sakura gestures for Deidara to sit and she kneels on the cushion on the other side. Deidara realizes what this is and tries his best to mimic her movements.

Fubuki pours the mixed tea into the teapot and lights a fire underneath it, letting it heat up. When it is done, she pours out a cup of tea each for the two of them and takes her leave. Sakura starts by picking up the tea, which Deidara struggles to copy, and takes a sip.

She makes displeased noises when Deidara fails to completely copy her, which makes Deidara groan in return.

“I don’t know how to do it like you,” Deidara complains once he puts the cup down. “How do you move your hands like that naturally? It looks so unrealistic, hm.”

Sakura sighs. “It doesn’t matter if it’s unrealistic,” she says, “because that’s how women are supposed to move and if you don’t learn it, Tobi will notice when you have a one-on-one meal with him. He might be kind, but he’s not stupid.”

Deidara tries to mimic Sakura again, but he struggles again and moans, “I just don’t know how to do it.”

Sakura sighs. “Just lean into it more naturally,” she says. “You’re focusing on it too much. Just relax and try again.”

Deidara frowns. A few moments later, Sakura nods approvingly.

“That’s more like it,” she says. “Now, just try and work on being more natural about it. Your entire expression is giving you away.”

Deidara sticks his tongue out at her and she waves a hand in front of his face. “Let’s eat, then,” Sakura says.

The two of them eat their breakfast and Sakura mentions something about eating with Tobi. “Eat slower,” she says. “Tobi would notice that you’re scarfing down your food.”

“I’m hungry, hm,” Deidara murmurs around a mouthful of food.

“Girls don’t talk with food in their mouths.”

“No one should talk with food in their mouths,” Deidara says in a mocking tone. He clears his throat and says, “My mom always says that to me and my sister.”

“Then why do you keep doing it?”

Deidara shrugs.

Sakura shakes her head. “In any case, try not to act up. Tobi would ask you to dine with him alone soon, so you need to be prepared by then.”

“How soon?”

“Who knows? He likes to get to know people and having a meal together is the best way to do that. I was invited to a lunch with him when I first married Sasuke.”

Deidara frowns.

Sakura notices his expression and snorts. “Don’t think too much about it,” she says. “He just wanted to get to know me. He is actually really sociable, despite his demeanor in the battlefield.”

“What do you mean, yeah?” Deidara asks after he swallows a mouthful of food.

“He’s really good at fighting,” Sakura says, “dangerously so. It’s really a sight to behold. I know that a lot of people are afraid of approaching him after they witnessed him on the battlefield. He’s really intense, apparently.”

“How so?”

“Well, rumors had it that he fought an army of twenty men alone.”

Deidara chews on his bottom lip and looks down at his food.

“Hey, wake up,” Sakura says, waving her hand. “Did you zone out there?”

“Huh?” Deidara murmurs, looking back up at her. He blinks once, twice, then lets out a soft laugh. “Yeah, I guess I spaced out a little, hm.”

“If you’re worried about him being domestically violent,” says Sakura, “I just want to reassure you that he won’t be like that.”

“Huh?” Deidara looks at her, then he puffs out a breath and nods. He scratches the back of his neck. “Sure, sure,” he says.

“I’m serious,” Sakura says.

“Of course, yeah,” Deidara says, clearing his throat.

Sakura observes him for a moment. She narrows her eyes for a split second and Deidara swallows thickly. Then, she shakes her head and they continue to eat their breakfast in relative silence.

“Are you ready for the tour, then?” Sakura asks once they are done.

Deidara nods. They stand and head toward the door, but before they can leave, Sakura stops.

“Deidara,” Sakura says in a hushed tone.

“Yeah?”

“Are you…?” she trails off.

When she doesn’t continue, Deidara prompts her. “What?” he asks.

Sakura watches him again, then she shakes her head once more. “Nothing,” she says, “nothing at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for this chapter to be uploaded. I hit a snag when I was halfway through this so I stopped. But I actually took that time to plan ahead and now I have to and a half chapters of readied content to write, so updates might come a little more regularly now, depending on what I decide to do during daylight hours.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	9. The Duel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

When Sakura puts down her cup of tea, Deidara clears his throat and asks, slowly, “Can you do my eyes again, hm?”

“Huh?”

“Like… like before,” Deidara says, “when you first showed me how to remove my makeup.”

“It’s been a week or more now,” Sakura says, “I don’t really remember.”

Deidara gestures to his eyes, marking a line with his fingers. “Right here,” he says, “you lined my eyes with some dark paint and tipped it here.”

Sakura nods, giving him a look. “I can do that, but I want to know… Why do you want to line your eyes again?”

Deidara bites his lower lip. He pauses for a moment, long enough for Sakura to notice, and then he says, “Tobi said he liked it, yeah.”

“Okay,” Sakura says quickly. She motions for him to sit down in front of the vanity table and she helps him line his eyes. “You’re really improving with this,” she murmurs. “You don’t flinch as much anymore.”

“Hmm,” Deidara hums.

“Well, it is coming up to two weeks now, isn’t it?” Sakura replies to herself. She pauses, then she says, “By the way, did your family send news? Have they found Ino yet?”

Deidara’s expression changes enough for Sakura to stop what she’s doing.

“What is it?” she asks.

Deidara presses his lips into a line and looks away.

“Deidara,” Sakura prompts, gentle.

He takes a deep breath and says, “I got a letter from my father this morning, yeah. He says that they haven’t found Ino yet, all the efforts have turned up empty-handed. It doesn’t say in the letter, but from the way he phrased everything… It makes me think that he’s going to give up, hm.”

Sakura sighs. She puts a hand on Deidara’s shoulder and gives him a small smile. “You don’t need to worry about that,” she says. “Your father wouldn’t want to abandon you here, he’ll need you back on the fields, right?”

Deidara shakes his head. “It’s not like that at home,” he says and then he pauses. “You wouldn’t get it,” he says eventually.

“Try me.”

He turns away. “I don’t want to talk about that,” Deidara says. “In any case, I think my father would be glad that I’m not home. He just cares about the fact that Ino isn’t here and isn’t honoring the deal, yeah.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I don’t think it,” says Deidara, “I know it.”

When Sakura gives him a look, Deidara shakes his head again. “I don’t want to talk about that, hm,” he says.

“Well, I’m sure they can find Ino soon,” she says. “Though, I do understand why she would run away.”

“Yeah,” Deidara murmurs, “I get it too.”

Sakura gives him a sad smile. “She couldn’t have gone far,” she says, “they will find her.”

Deidara shakes his head. Sakura finishes up his eyeliner and lets him admire his reflection as she puts away the paint and the brushes.

Moments later, the door slides open and Obito walks in. He stutters when he notices Sakura, but he continues immediately afterward. “My wife,” he says, “I have been challenged by someone to a duel and I wish for you to be there during the fight.”

Sakura stands. “Does he want something? Is that why he challenged you?”

“Just the usual,” Obito says, though he doesn’t look at Sakura, only at Deidara, “he wants to prove that my spot as Master Madara’s best samurai is not warranted.”

“What time is this duel?” Sakura asks.

“Just before lunch,” Obito says. He stands straighter, puffing out his chest, and says, “I hope to see you there, my wife. You would not be disappointed. Maybe afterward, we can talk about it.”

Tobi flashes Deidara a childish grin and then leaves the room.

Deidara turns to Sakura, shocked.

“Don’t worry,” Sakura says, “it won’t take too long. The Uchiha love to have these little fights to settle disputes. It might get a little graphic, though, so I don’t really recommend paying attention.”

“How barbaric,” Deidara mutters.

“It’s not the most peaceful tradition,” Sakura says, “but it does let them release that weird temper of theirs whenever there’s no active battle.”

Deidara just shakes his head.

“You’ll be expected to act a certain way when you’re watching the fight,” says Sakura. “Obito will be checking.”

“Fine,” Deidara says. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You’re a fast learner,” Sakura says with a smile and starts to explain to him what he should do.

Deidara walks out with a few of the servants, with Matsuri holding an umbrella to shield him from the sun.

The arena is already packed with people and Deidara can see Obito standing in the middle of it, wearing his full samurai gear with his sword by his hip. He looks grim as he stares at someone Deidara can’t see.

Deidara looks away.

The servants lead him to one of the highest spots in the arena. He is seated between Itachi and Sakura.

“You’ll like this show, I promise,” Itachi says when Deidara sits down. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you announced that you’re expecting by the end of tonight.”

Deidara grips the armrest of the seat and Sakura rests a hand on his arm. He glances at her and she shakes her head.

He takes a deep breath and looks down at Tobi. Obito is standing, relaxed, across another man. He is smaller than Deidara expected and his armor is more worn than Obito’s. Deidara shifts in his seat.

A man approaches the middle of the field. He gestures to both Obito and the challenger, and shouts, “Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Shigeru!”

There is a wave of cheers.

“Start!”

Shigeru draws his sword and readies himself, while Obito stays motionless.

“What are you doing?” Shigeru shouts. “Draw your weapon!”

Obito says nothing and just raises his arm. He makes a come-hither motion. Shigeru grits his teeth and grips his sword tighter. Then, he launches himself at Tobi.

When he nears, Obito steps aside and Shigeru stumbles to regain his balance. Obito steps behind Shigeru and takes out his sword. He jams the butt of the hilt between Shigeru’s shoulder blades.

Shigeru lets out a noise of surprise and tumbles forward, his sword clattering away. Obito points the tip of his sword at the back of Shigeru’s neck and says, in a low voice, “Do you surrender?”

Shigeru huffs. He turns away and says, “You might as well just end it.”

Obito swipes his sword up and a thick bundle of Shigeru’s hair falls. Shigeru winces but he doesn’t make a noise. Obito sheathes his sword and says, “Your life is not worth it.” He kicks some dirt onto Shigeru’s back and turns to the crowd. Immediately, he catches Deidara’s eyes.

Deidara blushes and tries to look away.

Despite his words, Shigeru lunges for his sword and gets back on his feet. Deidara grips the armrest of his chair as he nears Obito, who still has his back turned.

In a flurry of movements, Obito takes a step back and unsheathes his sword. Shigeru’s sword falls once more and he stumbles away from Obito. Blood drops from the edge of Obito’s sword and Shigeru clutches his arm.

Obito flicks his wrist and the blood splatters onto the dirt. “I thought you were going to give up,” Obito says.

Shigeru clicks his tongue and lowers his bleeding arm. He digs into his pocket and pulls out a small knife. He points it at Obito and, without another word, charges at him.

Obito widens his stance, grips his sword, and stands his ground. He twists his body at the last second and drives his sword clean through Shigeru’s arm, right through the plates of his armor.

Shigeru falls to the ground, screaming as blood squirts from his stump of an arm. The judge and two other people rush to the man’s side.

Obito lowers his sword. He stares down at Shigeru’s writhing body. He flicks the blood off his weapon again and sheathes it. He turns back to the crowd.

They cheer.

Deidara swallows when Obito’s eyes meet his again. With specks of blood on his face, Obito gives him a goofy grin. Deidara’s eyebrows furrow and he frowns. He looks away and hopes that his blush is masked in the sunlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to add a suggestive ending to this fic but I think I might expand it to the next chapter... I'm going to try and have it littered with heavy internalized homophobia, so this will serve as a warning in case you're sensitive about that stuff.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	10. The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

“Are you okay?” Sakura asks when the arena starts to clear out.

“Huh?” Deidara looks up at Sakura.

Sakura waves a hand in front of his face. “You’re spacing out,” she says. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Mm,” Deidara hums, nodding. Sakura watches him, eyebrows furrowed. She doesn’t say anything more as he follows the servants back to his room.

Once Deidara is back in his room, the rest of the servants murmur their goodbyes to him. Matsuri gives him a thumbs up, which he pretends not to see, and helps slide the door shut behind the other servants.

Deidara paces around the room, biting his lip and picking at his fingers. There’s a strange feeling stirring in the pit of his stomach and he can’t quite understand it.

Before Deidara can move to sit down at the table in the middle of the room, the door slides open again. He whips around and stops in his tracks when he sees that it is Tobi.

He has wiped the blood from his face and his sword is no longer at his hip, but he is still wearing his armor and Deidara is certain that he sees a chunk of flesh somewhere on there.

“My wife,” Obito announces, flashing him a toothy smile. His expression is all too innocent-looking for someone who just crippled a man for life. “Did you enjoy the spectacle? I normally wouldn’t go that far for some minor dispute, but I wanted to show you—”

Obito cuts himself off when he finds his arms full of Deidara. He lets out a noise of confusion but, after he gathers his senses, he kisses Deidara back. He holds Deidara’s jaw again, gently guiding him to a better position to deepen the kiss.

At Deidara’s insistent tugging, Obito takes the hint and starts to shuck off some pieces of his armor. Obito kicks off the final piece and guides Deidara backward. Deidara struggles for a moment, but he gives up quickly and goes along with Tobi.

Tobi hisses when Deidara’s hand slides down from his neck, dragging his fingers against his mesh shirt, and cups his rapidly growing erection.

“I take it you liked the duel?” Obito huffs with a laugh.

Deidara stops his movements and blinks.

“It’s okay,” Obito says. He takes the lead again, sliding his hands down against Deidara’s back, causing him to shiver, and rests them on his hips. “We can go slow,” he murmurs into Deidara’s ear. “At any pace you want, okay?”

Deidara swallows thickly. He feels out of place, but he doesn’t say anything. He lets Obito lay him down on the mattress and watches with intense interest as Obito takes off his mesh shirt, tossing it aside.

His breath hitches in his throat. He takes in the sight of his husband’s bare chest again. He likes the way the scar tissue on Obito’s right side glistens silver in the rays of sunlight filtering into their room, and he likes the way the sweat gives him an almost oiled look.

Deidara presses his thighs together, taking in a deep breath.

“I’ll be gentle,” Obito murmurs. He presses a kiss on Deidara’s mouth, then he starts to trail them down his neck.

Deidara gasps. Obito pulls away for a moment to smile at him.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Deidara reaches out and grabs Obito through his pants again. Obito groans as Deidara starts to move his hand up and down.

“You don’t have to do that,” Obito says through gritted teeth. “I want you to be comfortable first.”

Deidara just shakes his head, his hair coming loose from its braid and loose strands bouncing around his face. Obito reaches out to tuck these strands behind Deidara’s ear.

He reaches down to cover Deidara’s hand with his own. Deidara tries to shake him off, but he grips his wrist and uses his free hand to take himself out of his pants. After all the stimulation he has given his husband, Obito’s cock is fully erect and the red head is slick.

Deidara licks his lips at the sight, and then he tries to pull away in shock.

Obito lets him go, giving him a worried look. “Are you okay? Is this too much?”

Deidara looks up at Tobi’s concerned expression and, biting his lip again, shakes his head.

“No? No to which question? I won’t do anything you don’t want, Ino.” Obito moves to tuck himself back in, but Deidara stops him.

“What is it?” Obito asks.

Deidara stares at his husband’s cock for a moment, then he turns around and presses his ass against Obito’s groin.

Obito grunts. He puts a hand on Deidara’s hip. “Are you sure about this?” he mutters. “We don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

Deidara ignores him. He tugs down his undergarments, so he can feel Obito’s cock right against his ass and gathers himself in his hand.

Obito presses his chest against Deidara’s back. His breathing is shallow as he murmurs, “My wife,” into Deidara’s ear.

Deidara shivers. He presses his ass against Obito again and his husband takes the hint. He starts to move his hips and it takes a while for his cock to find the perfect spot between Deidara’s ass cheeks, but when it does, Obito groans louder and moves his hips faster.

Deidara tightens his hold on his cock. He squeezes his eyes shut and he covers his mouth with his free hand. In one particularly hard thrust from Tobi, Deidara lets out a quiet moan, much to his embarrassment.

Obito wraps his arm around Deidara’s torso, pulling him closer. “You don’t have to muffle yourself,” he says in between his pants. “I want to hear you.”

Deidara lets out a high-pitched whine and turns away from Obito. He bucks when Obito’s cock slips from his ass cheeks, slides against his perineum and nudges his balls.

Obito quickly fixes his position and it doesn’t take long for his movements to start stuttering. Moments later, he comes, and Deidara moans as he feels semen splatter against his skin. Obito leans most of his upper body weight on Deidara and tries to catch his breath.

Deidara whines, holding himself tighter. He can feel himself leak around his fingers, his cock twitching for friction. He tries not to touch himself too much. When Obito pulls away from him, the sudden loss of his warmth makes something within Deidara snap and he moves to sit up.

“My wife,” Obito murmurs. He tries to reach out, but Deidara bats his hands away.

“I just want to make you feel good,” Obito says, surprised. “I don’t think it’s fair that I—”

Deidara shakes his head. He pushes Obito aside, dragging his kimono back down to hide himself, and hurries to the other side of the room. He slides open the door to the bathing area and shuts it behind him.

He shucks off his kimono and hops into the empty bathing tub. He wraps his arms around his legs and rests his forehead on his knees. When his breathing calms down just a bit, he hears Obito pacing just outside.

“Are you alright?” Obito asks after a while. “I didn’t go too far, did I?”

Deidara doesn’t say anything. He’s getting good at that, now. He reaches over and grabs a bucket of water that is always on boil and mixes it with the cold water placed on the side. When the water is at an acceptable temperature, he pours it all in the wooden tub.

Without the servants’ help, it takes a while for him to manage to fill the tub. He cleans his face and rubs his skin vigorously. His vision blurs and tears start to stream down his face. He bites his tongue to keep quiet and fights back the tears.

He goes to keep cleaning himself but is horrified to find himself still hard on his thigh. The feeling of Obito’s cock against his ass is still fresh on his mind and Deidara twitches at the thought.

Ashamed, Deidara grabs himself and starts to stroke. He covers his mouth and closes his eyes, imagining a better scene than the one he is in now. He pretends that he’s still underneath Obito and that he doesn’t have to pretend to be his sister.

“My wife?”

At the sound of Obito’s voice, Deidara bites his finger and comes into the water. He breathes harshly, giving himself a few more strokes, and then he lets go. He cleans himself quickly with the remaining water and wipes the cum off his back.

He leaves the tub and wraps the nearest towel around himself. He sits down by the edge of the tub, covering his face as shame sits at the bottom of his stomach like a stone. He does not cry. He just sits there in silence as he tries not to think about the very person waiting just behind the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the smoothest writing sessions I've ever had. Wrote this all in one go. I had to stop mid-way because I was looking for the word "perineum" because I forgot it, but it didn't stop my train of thought. Love that for me.
> 
> Anyway, I think the internalized homophobia is quite tame in this one, even though I wanted it to be the main focal point. I didn't want to do a cringy _italics_ thought session or over-exposition in the narrative, so I kept the language simple and focused more on their actions, as well as keeping narrative exposition to a minimum.
> 
> Also, because of this chapter, I'm going to change the rating of this fic from Mature to Explicit.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	11. The Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

“I want to take a day off from my duties today, father,” Obito says.

Fugaku doesn’t even look up from his scroll. “A day off?” he asks.

“Yes,” Obito says. He clears his throat and shifts his weight from one side to another. “I think I’ve gotten through to my wife and I want to spend the day with her. We, uh, we made good progress yesterday.”

Fugaku puts down his scroll and stares at his eldest son. “Good progress,” he echoes.

“Yes, well,” Obito says, “she was eager after my duel and we—”

“Am I to be expecting some grandchildren, finally?” Fugaku asks.

“Well, not quite,” Obito says, “but we’re getting to that point, I think. She’s still a bit spooked from this whole thing. I don’t think her family has really contacted her since the wedding and I’m sure she misses them.”

“What are you saying?”

“I was thinking if I can help her write a letter to her family,” Obito says. “It would really help, I think. We made a breakthrough yesterday and I just want her to be more comfortable around me—”

“Women don’t need to start writing letters,” Fugaku says.

“Well, I would be the one writing. She can just tell me what she wants to write in the letter.”

“She has started talking to you?”

“No,” says Obito, “but I’m hoping maybe she would if I mention this to her. I’m sure she’ll be glad.”

“She’s talked to the servants and Sakura,” Fugaku says.

“Perhaps she’s a little more comfortable talking to girls and not a strange man she is forced to marry.”

Fugaku scoffs. “What kind of man can’t get his wife to talk to him?”

Obito sits up straighter. “I didn’t have the privilege to meet her organically,” he says, “so I’m trying to make up for it. I hope I don’t need to remind you that she’s still a person like the rest of us.”

Fugaku frowns. “Don’t talk back to me, son,” he says, stern.

“I wouldn’t if you would just treat my wife with a little respect.”

Fugaku waves his hand.

“So, can I have a day off today or not?”

“Fine,” his father says, “do what you want for today, but you’re doubling your workload tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Obito says and he leaves the room.

He slides the door shut behind him with a huff and stomps down the hall. The servants that pass him give him worried glances.

One of the maids – Matsuri, if he remembers correctly – rounds the corner and stops when she spots him. She quickly tries to turn around, but he puts a hand on her shoulder and asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh!” Matsuri says, voice high. “Nothing, nothing. I thought I heard D—I mean, I thought you heard your wife call me just now, but I guess I misheard.”

Matsuri quickly weasels her way out of Obito’s grip and hurries off, footsteps a little louder than usual.

“How strange,” Tobi murmurs to himself. He turns the corner and walks up to the doors of his room. He reaches out to slot his fingers into the handle, but he stops when he hears a man’s voice coming from inside.

“Listen,” the voice says, “I know you asked before and I wanted to tell you earlier, but I didn’t think it was such a good idea at the time—”

Obito feels his blood boil in his veins. His first thought goes to his wife and he worries about her safety, then he thinks about who exactly this man is talking to.

He lets go of the door and takes a step back, making sure to keep from stepping on a creaky panel. Is his wife seeing another man? He shakes his head and presses the heels of his hands on his forehead. The muffled conversation continues at the other side of the door and Obito bites his tongue.

Trying to calm his breathing, he steps closer to the door.

“When you said I knew more than I let on,” the man says, “you’re right, yeah. I… I helped Ino escape that night, hm. She didn’t want to get married to someone she doesn’t love, especially not when she already has a boyfriend. So, when Sai said that they could run away, I helped them, yeah.”

Obito leans back in shock.

It only takes a moment for him to realize what this means. Disgust fills his body and he feels bile in his throat. He barely stops himself from crashing through the door and tackling the man.

“Where did you tell her to go?” Sakura asks.

“I told them to go to Suna,” the man says. “I thought it would help because it’s further away, and I know someone there who would help them.”

“That’s why your family can’t find her.”

“Yeah,” he says, “and if they can’t find her, they’re not going to take me back home, hm.”

Obito takes a moment to process this and understands, finally, why his wife never spoke, and why Ino’s brother didn’t show up to the wedding.

“Do you want to go back home?” Sakura asks, though it is hard for Obito to hear.

“I do,” Deidara murmurs, “but I also don’t want Ino to suffer, hm. She’s happy with Sai and I shouldn’t take that away from her.”

There is a moment of silence.

“But you don’t want to suffer like this too, right?” Sakura’s voice is barely audible. Obito leans closer to the door.

Another gap of silence. Obito strains his ears and hears a series of soft patting.

“It’s very hard to find a suitable solution to this,” Sakura says eventually. “Maybe you can run away too, I can say you were eaten by a bear.”

Deidara scoffs. “And then where would I go, yeah?”

“To Suna,” Sakura suggests. “Your sister is there already.”

Deidara is quiet and then, he hears, “Yeah, I guess you’re right, but who would believe that I was eaten by a bear?”

Sakura laughs. “I guess we can work on a better excuse.”

Tobi steps away from the door, suddenly on high alert. It’s a strange feeling in the back of his mind and in his stomach. The thought of his wife – Deidara – leaving sickens him. He doesn’t understand it, but Obito knows that he shouldn’t wait before acting on his instincts. Not anymore.

He taps on his chin, stares at the top of the door, and then nods to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter but I thought this was a good place to end it.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	12. The Private Lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Tobi takes a few steps back and clears his throat. The conversation in the room quiets down and he slides open the door.

“My wife,” he announces, looking at Deidara, “I have been granted a day off today and I wanted to spend the afternoon with you.”

When he is greeted by silence and a nervous glance from Sakura to Deidara, he continues, “I thought that it would be a good idea to have a private lunch with you. We could go to the garden by the estate.”

Sakura speaks up, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Why not?” Obito asks.

“Well, that’s one of your grandfather’s gardens, right? Are you sure he would let you have lunch there?”

“I don’t see why not,” Obito says, “I’ve always been his favorite grandchild.”

“Well, shouldn’t you make sure before you ask your wife to join you there? You know how your grandfather can get.”

Obito frowns, tapping his chin. “I don’t think it would be a problem,” he says. “it’s not like Master Madara would do anything drastic just because we are eating there.”

“You can never be sure,” Sakura says. “How about you just have lunch with your wife here?”

Obito pretends to consider this for a moment, staring at Sakura. “How about you join us, then?” he decides to say. “I understand that my wife is more comfortable with you around.”

Sakura looks surprised at his offer. She turns to Deidara, who looks equally as shocked. It takes a few moments before Sakura turns back to face Obito.

“I suppose that can work,” she says.

“Perfect,” Obito says with a smile, clasping his hands together. “I’m sure this would be a fun trip. I hope we can utilize this time to get to know and understand each other a little better.”

He glances at Deidara, trying to gauge his reaction, but he is not looking at him. “I will prepare for the trip,” he says to Sakura. “Can you bring my wife to the garden in an hour? I will meet you there.”

When Sakura nods her agreement, Obito turns and leaves the room. He makes a show of sliding the door behind him and stomps his feet as he walks away. He waits for a few moments before he returns to the door, keeping his footsteps light.

He can hear a muffled conversation when he leans closer to the doors.

“—He’ll get suspicious if I don’t say anything, yeah.”

“There’s nothing much we can do to avoid that,” Sakura replies. “I can help you answer some questions but if he asks something I can’t answer for you, I think you can just shake your head. You can pretend it’s too private.”

“What if it’s not too private?”

“Tobi isn’t entitled to get an answer for every question he asks you.”

Deidara hums. “In any case, do you know what questions he might ask?”

“I have a few in mind—”

Obito backs away from the door. Once he is far enough away, he turns the corner and hurries to the kitchens.

It doesn’t take long for him to track down one of the servants that he recognizes. “Fubuki," Obito calls out.

Fubuki stops cleaning the teapot and turns, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. She blinks and rearranges herself before answering him, “Yes, master?”

“Do you know what my wife likes to eat?”

“Pardon?”

“You always spend time with her, don’t you? Do you know what she likes to eat?”

“Ah,” Fubuki starts, but she trails off and looks away. “I don’t quite know for sure, she doesn’t really…”

“It’s alright,” Obito says. “We are going to the gardens for lunch and I just wanted her to enjoy herself. I thought it would be better if I prepared something that she likes to eat.”

Fubuki glances at the other maids. Korone shakes her head. Okayu pretends to be busy with preparing some meat. Fubuki turns back to Obito but Watame steps up.

“She likes to eat bakudan, sir,” Watame says.

Obito nods. “Can you prepare some for her?”

“Of course,” Watame says.

“And any other of her preferred foods if you can,” he says. He turns to leave, but he stops himself halfway. “Oh, and something for Sakura, too.”

The maids seem to relax a little and Fubuki smiles at Tobi. “Of course, Master Obito,” she says. “Would you like some of your favorite foods as well?”

“Ah, well,” Tobi says, scratching the back of his head. “That won’t be necessary. I can have whatever you have extra.”

“Of course,” replies Fubuki and the rest of the servants start to prepare the food.

Obito doesn’t have to wait long. Fubuki exits the kitchen with a large basket. She hands it to Obito.

“Sorry to have troubled you,” Obito says as he takes the basket. “Thank you very much.”

“It’s alright,” says Fubuki. “I hope you have fun with your wife in the garden.”

“I hope so too.” Obito gives Fubuki a smile and starts to head toward the garden.

When he arrives, he sets the basket by the root of the tree and puts a blanket down. By the time he sets up the meal, he sees Sakura and Deidara approach, shadowed by Matsuri and Haato.

They are chatting amongst themselves, but when they spot Obito, they quiet down. Even though they try to be quiet, Obito still hears Matsuri whisper, “Good luck,” before they leave Sakura and Deidara with him.

“Hey,” Obito says. He clears his throat and adds, “Ladies.”

He gestures to the laid out blanket in front of him and motions for them to sit down. Sakura ushers Deidara to the other side but she sits down first. Obito watches as Deidara tries his best to mimic what Sakura is doing.

If he didn’t know to look out for it, he wouldn’t have noticed.

Sakura clears his throat and Obito hurries to sit down, offering them a smile in apology.

“I’ve asked the servants to make something you’d both like,” he says as he reaches into the basket. He takes out the two dishes and sets them in front of Sakura and Deidara. “I hope this would lift some spirits.”

He takes out his own meal and he murmurs, “Thank you for the meal.” Sakura says it after him, but Deidara says nothing, only dipping his head.

Obito waits until everyone is almost done with their meal before he speaks up. “So, I was wondering, we could use this time to get to know each other,” he says.

Deidara presses his lips together.

“Did you two know each other?” he asks. “It feels like you two are a little closer than total strangers.”

“Yes,” Sakura says. “We know each other from childhood. I didn’t realize, uh, Ino was going to marry into the family until I met her during the wedding.”

“No one told you?”

“You men never tell me anything.”

“Right,” says Obito. He clears his throat and says, quickly, “What a small world, huh? What did you do during your childhood, then?”

“We just played together,” Sakura says. “Me and Ino and her brother, Deidara, and another girl. We used to play in the flower fields and the rivers.”

Obito grins. “This is the second time I’ve heard of Ino’s brother now. I wonder what he’s like? He didn’t come to the wedding, after all.”

“He’s a good man,” Sakura answers. “Your average, boisterous, and troublesome kid. He liked to push us into the river whenever we get too close. We didn’t like playing with him much.”

Deidara covers his mouth and glances at Sakura.

“I see…” Obito says, tapping his chin. “What about his art? I think Itachi mentioned something about him being an art student.”

“Ah,” Sakura says. She glances at Deidara and the two of them share a quick moment before she turns back to Obito. “Well, I guess… He’s into writing? I don’t really know.”

Deidara scrunches up his nose.

Obito pauses and asks, “Perhaps he’s a painter?”

Sakura shrugs. Deidara rolls his eyes.

“Maybe a sculptor?”

Deidara’s eyebrows raise. “I don’t know,” says Sakura. “I lost contact with the Yamanaka clan after I married Sasuke.”

“Oh,” Obito says. “I guess you’ve been spending all this time catching up with each other.”

“Yes,” says Sakura, “you can say that.”

Obito laughs. He turns to Deidara and asks, “Do you miss your home?”

Deidara looks down. He nods.

“What about your brother?”

Sakura pips up, “Ino misses everyone in her family. Ever since last week, there hasn’t been a letter from them.”

Obito frowns. “Do you want me to write a letter to them? I can update them on what’s going on.”

Sakura turns to Deidara. Deidara nods once.

“Alright,” Obito says with a grin. “We can do that tonight. What do you say, my wife?”

Deidara nods again.

Obito looks up and watches as the birds hop on the branch just above them. It sings a song and Obito looks back down. “I suppose it’s time for us to go,” he says.

Deidara and Sakura stand from the cloth and Obito cleans up, stuffing everything back into the basket. He gestures toward the estate. “Let’s go, then,” he says.

When they reach their room, Obito bids Sakura goodbye and, off-handedly, murmurs to his wife as they head inside. “You know, I’d really love to get to know more about Deidara. He seems like an interesting fellow.”

Obito doesn’t say anything more and lets Deidara stand at the doors, eyebrows raised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, sorry for the late update. I was busy finishing up my university applications. I'm happy to announce that both of them have accepted me and gave me conditional offers.
> 
> And, if you're wondering, all the servants' names are some of the girls I like from Hololive. Haha... Haha...
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	13. The Discussion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Deidara winces when Sakura plucks at his eyebrows.

“Stay still,” Sakura murmurs.

Deidara closes his eyes and Sakura sighs. “You don’t have to close your eyes so hard,” she says as she plucks another hair. “You’ll get used to it soon.”

“I don’t get why I have to do it, hm,” Deidara murmurs.

“Beauty,” Sakura says.

“You don’t sound convinced either.”

Sakura sighs again. “There are a lot of things that I don’t really understand,” she says, “but I just accept it because that’s just how it is.”

Deidara scoffs. “I’m asking why _I_ have to do it,” Deidara murmurs.

Sakura says nothing. When she finishes plucking his eyebrows, she puts everything back in the drawer. “Did Tobi say anything to you last night?” she asks.

He pauses for a moment, then he says, “Yeah.”

Sakura turns to him, eyebrow raised. “Are you not going to elaborate?”

Deidara bites his lip. He stares at his feet and plays with his fingers. “I don’t know,” he says. “It’s a little weird. After you left, he said that he wanted to get to know me, yeah.”

“He said that at lunch as well.”

“No, not like that,” Deidara says, shaking his head. “He said he wanted to know _me_.”

Sakura thinks for a moment. “Oh,” she says.

“Yeah,” he replies. “I don’t know what that means either.”

“Maybe he—” Sakura stops herself when someone speaks at the door.

“Ma’am?” Matsuri’s voice comes through the _shoji_.

Deidara heaves out a sigh of relief and Sakura gives him a quick look. She heads over to the door and kneels by it. She slides open the door.

“Matsuri,” Sakura greets, then she turns to the other servants. “What are you all doing here?”

“Breakfast,” Fubuki says as cheerily as possible. She holds up a tray and the other servants hold up other respective items.

“Is our breakfast that large?”

“It is very heavy. We needed all of the hands we could afford,” Matsuri says. “Can we come in?”

Sakura sighs and lets the girls in. They set up the dining table and, despite it being a meal of two, they don’t leave. Deidara rolls his eyes and joins the servants at the table.

Sakura slides the door shut and approaches them. “What do you girls want?” she asks, settling down on her spot.

“Oh, nothing,” Matsuri says. She twirls her hair.

Sakura rolls her eyes. She motions for Deidara to eat and the two of them dig in. The servants glance at each other and then Watame says, “We heard that Master Obito said something during your private lunch yesterday. We were just curious…”

Korone nods. “He also didn’t object too much about you being there, Missus Sakura. Why is that?”

The servants all murmur their agreements to various degrees, one even mumbling, “Yeah, I thought he said he wanted a private lunch, one-on-one with his wife.”

Sakura takes a deep breath. “He said the usual things,” she says, “something about wanting to get to know his wife a little better.” She frowns. “It is a bit strange that he didn’t object to me being there. In fact, he’s the one who suggested it.”

The servants all glance at each other. Suisei and Fubuki murmur to each other. Matsuri grins.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Matsuri asks.

Deidara and Sakura share a look. “It does sound like a good thing, hm,” Deidara murmurs around a mouthful of food.

Sakura clicks her tongue and slaps her chopsticks against Deidara’s hand. Ignoring Deidara’s complaints, she says, “I wouldn’t be too sure. There’s something strange about it.”

At Deidara’s confused look, she continues, “He said that he wanted a private lunch, one-on-one. He never allowed Sasuke to come when he asked for a private lunch with me.”

Deidara scoffs. “Probably because Sasuke doesn’t make you feel comfortable, hm.”

Sakura frowns. Deidara waves his hand in the air and says, “He said that. Tobi said that he knows you being around makes me feel better, so he let you come with us. I don’t see what the big deal is, yeah. He’s a nice guy.”

When no one says anything, Deidara says, “What? I’m just saying. He could have been— Well, you know, you guys— Sakura said that he’s a nice guy and that’s just him being nice, hm! I was giving an example—”

“I get it,” Sakura says, though there’s a look on her face.

“Did he ask anything particularly hard to answer during lunch?” Fubuki asks quickly.

“Ah, well, he did ask a lot about our childhood,” Sakura says. “He figured out that we knew each other as kids.”

“Wow, you do?” Suisei asks. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yes,” Deidara says, “we used to play as children because Sakura lived close, but after she turned fourteen, we stopped spending as much time together.”

“Then I married Sasuke,” says Sakura, “and I lost contact with the Yamanaka clan.”

“Until now,” Korone says with wonder.

“Did he say anything else? Afterward, maybe?” asks Matsuri.

Deidara glances at Sakura. She shrugs. “Well, he did say something about wanting to get to know Deidara,” Sakura says.

“Wait, know him?” Korone asks.

“Yeah, he…” Deidara trails off, pursing his lips and staring down at his food. “He said he wanted to get to know me a little bit better. I don’t know what that means, exactly, hm.”

“That is a little bit suspicious,” Watame murmurs, tapping her chin.

“How is that suspicious? He just wants to get to know the brother that never bothered to show up to the wedding,” Fubuki replies.

“Yeah, we heard about how they were talking about you during the reception,” Korone says. “Master Obito seems curious about why you never showed up. He’s the type to honor someone he knows even if they aren’t really seeing eye to eye, so he probably wants to know your reason – but of course, we know why.”

“What do you mean by that, yeah?”

“Well,” Korone says, glancing at the other servants. “He went to Kakashi and Rin’s wedding, you know? He was very upset the entire time, but they were still best friends and Kakashi invited him.”

Deidara frowns and grips his chopsticks a little harder.

“Maybe in his mind, he’s thinking that if he went to Kakashi and Rin’s wedding, why couldn’t his bride’s brother, right?” Korone continues. She cuts herself off when Sakura gives her a look.

“Anyway, we can’t be too sure why Tobi wants to get to know you,” Sakura says quickly. “It might not be a good thing.”

“Could be a blessing in disguise,” murmurs Matsuri. When the others glare at her, she shrugs. “What? You could never know. They could develop a friendship and then maybe when the time comes to reveal the truth – and you _have_ to reveal the truth at some point – maybe he’ll take it a little less harshly.”

“I find it hard to believe that he’ll take the news any less harshly because he’ll figure out that he’s been sleeping with a man this whole time,” snickers Suisei.

Matsuri shrugs and makes a noise. “That’s kind of hot, isn’t it?” she murmurs, and then she gets promptly slapped on the arm.

“Shouldn’t I get to have to final say in this? He asked for _me_ directly, hm,” Deidara says.

“We can’t exactly be sure why he said what he did,” Sakura says. “These men, they have ulterior motives a lot of the time.”

“I’m a man, do you think I wouldn’t know?”

The servants all shift in their seats. Sakura clears her throat.

“Well, I guess you can say if you find a way to communicate with Master Obito in another way, he wouldn’t pay as much mind as to why you won’t speak to him,” Fubuki says quickly. “How about a letter? I think that would serve as a good distraction.”

“Yes, I agree,” Korone says. “The Uchiha are very particular about their arts, so I think it would take him a while to try and write the perfect letter. He’ll be distracted, for sure.”

“Perfect, a letter it is, then,” says Matsuri. “We can prepare the tools you need right now. Do you know how to write, Deidara?”

“Of course, I know how to write,” Deidara says, a little bitter.

“Just checking,” Matsuri says. She and Korone stand up quickly and hurry out of the room.

“I hope you know what you are doing,” Sakura murmurs.

“I hope you can just trust me for once,” Deidara replies.

Sakura shrugs. “Alright,” she says. She gives him a particular look and tries to suppress a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I no longer have a concept of time and I have no idea if this is a late update or if this is an acceptable timeframe for an update.
> 
> Anyway, I also crossposted this fic onto Wattpad. Also, wanted to note that the last chapter made the fic collect 100 comments exactly! Fun!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	14. The Letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Obito leans against the doorframe when Sakura hands him a letter.

“What’s this?” Obito asks.

“It’s a letter,” Sakura says.

“Yes,” says Obito. He takes the letter from Sakura and looks down on it. “But what is it for?”

“Can’t you read?” Sakura asks.

Obito frowns. “Could you?”

“My husband told me it’s for your wife.’

Obito looks down at the letter again. “So it is,” he says.

“I don’t know why it got delivered to my place,” Sakura continues.

“How strange,” notes Obito. He flips the letter over and over in his hand. “Thank you for handing it over, then.”

“No problem,” Sakura says. “Say hi to your wife for me,” she says, and then she turns to leave.

“Goodbye to you, too,” Obito murmurs. He slides the door shut and turns around. Deidara is lying down on their bed, eyes closed.

“Are you napping?” Obito calls out. He walks over to Deidara’s side of the bed and kneels. He waves the letter and Deidara cracks open an eye to glace at him. He smiles. “You have a letter,” he says.

Deidara sits up and Obito sits down by his legs. He unfurls the letter for his wife and shows him the contents, though he takes it back and reads it out loud for him.

“Seems like your brother misses you,” Obito says. “He’s worried I’m not a good fit for you.” He laughs. “Do you want me to write a reply to him?”

Deidara raises an eyebrow, then he nods once.

Obito smiles. He hands Deidara the letter and stands up. He goes to a drawer and takes out a piece of paper, some ink, and a brush. He sets everything on the table in the middle of the room and gestures to his wife.

“Come on, then,” he says. “Let’s write a reply to your brother. Do you think he’d judge me for bad handwriting?”

Deidara gives him a look and nods.

Obito grins. “I suppose I’ll just have to do my best, then. I’m not one for art.”

Deidara sits down by his husband, setting the other letter down next to the empty piece of paper. Obito prepares the ink and dips the brush into it, wiping the excess by the edge of the container. He writes a simple greeting.

“Not too shabby,” Obito says.

Deidara shakes his head.

Obito pretends he doesn’t notice. “What should I write next? Maybe I should introduce myself.”

Deidara snorts. Obito turns to him and grins. “What? You don’t think that’s a good idea? I think it’s proper to introduce myself first, to make a good impression.” Deidara watches him and Obito’s smile widens. “You’re blushing,” he says. He pauses for a moment, then he adds, “It’s cute.”

Deidara’s eyes widen. Obito hesitates, but he reaches out and tucks a stray strand of Deidara’s hair behind his ear. They stare at each other for a while, then Obito shakes his head and turns back to the letter.

As he writes, Deidara peers over his shoulder. Obito continues to write about his feelings about married life and wonders what gifts Deidara thinks his sister would like. Obito glances at Deidara. He grins when he sees that Deidara’s head is almost resting on him.

Deidara looks at Obito and they stare at each other for a moment, then Deidara leans away, ears red. Obito smiles again. He drains the brush of any excess ink and puts it down.

“I think this is perfect for now,” he says.

Deidara nods.

Obito takes the brush and the ink and puts them back into the drawers. He looks at the letter at different angles and nods to himself. “Should be dry,” he murmurs. He folds the letter neatly and places it on the desk.

“I have to go out early in the morning tomorrow,” says Obito. “Do you mind helping me mail this letter? All you need to do is to hand it to one of the servants. They’ll know what to do.”

Deidara gives him a look.

“I know,” says Obito. He sits down next to Deidara and places a hand on his shoulder. “I would mail it myself, but it is too late now and, in the morning, when I wake up, it’s too early. I don’t want to trouble the servants. They’re still people.”

At Deidara’s frown, Obito sighs. “My father has been extra harsh on me these two days,” he says. “I have to prove to him that I’m not going to slack off or cave under pressure. Just bear with it for a while, okay? I’m sure it’ll return to normal by the end of the week.”

Deidara huffs and nods. Obito smiles.

“Thank you,” he says. “My wife,” he adds quickly.

Before Deidara can react, Obito stands and stretches. “I am tired,” he announces. “I wish to go to bed now. Would you join me?”

Deidara hesitates. “Not like that,” Obito says, “I just meant… You know, to go to sleep. It’s getting quite late.”

Obito sighs and runs a hand through his hair. Deidara stands and rests a hand on Obito’s chest. Obito blinks and relaxes.

When they are ready for bed, Obito puts a hand on Deidara’s shoulder. Deidara turns to him and, in the weak light, barely sees Obito smile at him. Obito lets go and turns to his side, eyes still opening and staring at the walls.

Deidara wakes up alone. He sighs through his nose and closes his eyes. Moments later, he hears someone at the door, but he doesn’t bother to get up.

The door slides open and he hears Sakura make a noise.

“Why are you still in bed?” she asks.

“I am resting, hm,” Deidara murmurs.

“Well, you should be awake right now.” Sakura walks over and picks up one of his kimonos. She tosses it at him, and it covers his face. “Get up,” she says.

“Let me rest,” he mutters. “My father lets me take a rest for half a day every three months.”

“Well, your father isn’t here right now,” Sakura says. He frowns. Sakura stands by the bed and sighs. She takes the kimono and Deidara winces at the bright light. “Sorry,” she says, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s whatever, hm,” Deidara says. He turns to his side and closes his eyes again. Sakura crosses her arms.

“You still have to get up.”

“Let me rest for just a while longer.”

“Ladies aren’t supposed to act like this.”

Deidara frowns again. He turns back to Sakura and glares at her. “Am I a lady?” he asks.

Sakura blinks at him, then she rolls her eyes. “You know you’re not,” she says, “but you still have to put up the pretense of it while you’re here.”

Deidara sighs. “What if I don’t want to?”

“What?”

“What if I don’t want to do it anymore? I thought about it last night. What if I just run away to where Ino is?”

Sakura is silent for a moment. “Why do you want that?”

“What if Tobi doesn’t actually want to know me for me?” Deidara asks, slowly sitting up from the bed. “What if he just wants to… get to know Ino through me?”

Sakura shrugs. “I guess there’s no way of pretending that’s not a possibility,” she says. “After all, he still thinks he married your sister, so he probably just wants to ask advice from someone who is closest to her.”

Deidara lies back down.

“Don’t be like that,” Sakura says. “You know that it will be like this. Tobi doesn’t know you’re you.”

Deidara doesn’t reply.

“Why do you have a problem with this, Deidara?” Sakura asks a few moments later, her voice soft. When Deidara doesn’t reply, she sits down. She raises her hand to reach out, but she hesitates. She presses her lips into a thin line and furrows her eyebrows. After a while, she reaches out again and places it on Deidara’s shoulder.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she prompts.

Deidara squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head aggressively.

“I think we should talk about it,” says Sakura.

“No,” Deidara says through gritted teeth. “I don’t want to.”

Sakura scoffs and rolls her eyes. “It’s not good to keep everything to yourself, but as you wish,” she says. She lets go of him and stands, heading to the table. She sits down and picks up the letter.

“Can I read this?”

“Hm,” hums Deidara.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she says. When Deidara doesn’t say anything else, she opens the letter and reads it.

She nods to herself and sets the letter down. “Is that why you’re upset?” she asks.

Deidara makes a soft noise.

She chuckles to herself. “This is just normal. He wants to make his wife happy,” she says. “I’m actually surprised that he’s this interested in keeping you— er, well, his wife, satisfied.” She looks down at her hands. “Sasuke never asks my parents for advice on what to get me,” she murmurs.

Deidara sits up then, watching her. “What about Naruto, yeah?”

“He made me stop talking to Naruto when we got married,” Sakura says with a shrug. “Last I heard, he’s marrying Hinata.”

Deidara hums.

“Anyway, I don’t know why you’re so upset,” Sakura says. “You wanted to write a letter, and you got what you wanted.”

Deidara looks down.

“Well, maybe not what you wanted,” Sakura says when she notices. She hides her mouth behind a hand and says, “I think you can still work this in your favor. Tobi has no idea what the real Ino is like. You can just pretend what you like is what she likes, so he will get what you want.”

Deidara looks back up at her, eyes wide. He hops off the bed and hurries over to the table.

“Not so fast,” Sakura says. “You need to clean up.”

Deidara grunts. Sakura pinches her nose and shoos him away. Deidara stomps his feet and heads toward the bathroom.

“When you’re done, you can write a reply, but you need to know what gifts men expect women would ask for.”

Deidara waves at her and disappears into the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, y'all. I heard ya. Two weeks is too long, so how about five days? I set myself a goal to write at least two-hundred words a day, but I often go over that once I get in the flow so it's easy to hit my self-set minimum word goal within a week.
> 
> I'm going to take a break from writing this fic tomorrow because I want to write something else, and also because I have no idea what I want to do for the upcoming chapters, but I will also spend tomorrow and the day after to plan, so hopefully y'all don't need to wait for the next update for too long. If you have any ideas, though, you are welcome to share them in the comments. I want to know what you guys want to see, and I'll see if I can incorporate it into the story.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	15. The Gifts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

The bird tweets in its cage. Deidara turns from his desk to look at it, only to find it already staring at him. His eyebrows furrow as he continues to look at the bird, then he snaps his attention to the door when he hears heavy footsteps approach.

When he sees a familiar figure, he turns back to his writing and pretends to be busy. The door slides open and Obito steps in, arms filled with a box he struggles to hold. He sets the thing down by Deidara.

“Clay is deceptively heavy,” Obito says with a huff. He wipes at his brow and lets out a soft laugh. “How are you, my wife?” he asks.

Obito shrugs when he gets no answer. He turns to nudge at the box he set down. “I thought you’d be a little more appreciative,” he murmurs. “It must be hard, huh? For your father to have two artistic kids. I never really pegged you for an artist, anyway, but it definitely suits you better than your brother.”

Deidara sets his brush down and the ink splatters against the paper. He presses his hands on his thighs and stares down.

Obito clears his throat and scratches the back of his head. “Ah, I didn’t really—I’m sorry,” he says. He clears his throat again. The caged bird tweets again and Obito makes a soft sound. “Ah, the bird, right? Do you enjoy its company?”

Deidara says nothing.

Obito walks over to the bird and gestures to it, saying, “I caught this bird, you know. Did I ever tell you that? Well, I caught it because I quite liked their singing. I hear them a lot during my trips and I thought that you would enjoy them.”

“I saw this little guy on my way back from my duties,” Obito says after another moment of silence, “and he is quite hard to catch. He gave me quite a lot of trouble. He didn’t want to get caught at all and escaped me a lot of times. He even managed to almost chew through the trap I finally caught him in.”

He turns to look at Deidara, who quickly looks back down at the piece of paper. Deidara furrows his eyebrows and Obito lets out a soft laugh. He turns back to the bird and finds it already staring at him.

“But you gave in, in the end, right?” Obito reaches into the cage and the bird tweets. “I know you feel trapped in there but it’s better than fending for yourself and wondering when your next meal is. Right, little bird?”

The bird hops around on its perch and flaps its wings.

Obito turns and rummages around in the other pile of gifts he has gotten Deidara. He takes out a small pouch and loosens its strings. He takes out a few grains and places it by the birdcage.

“I don’t really know how to care for one of these,” he continues to say. “I’m not one for a pet bird, but my father had a couple when I was a boy.”

The bird hops down from its ledge and pecks at his hand.

“I suppose it should be easy,” Obito says. “Perhaps you would like to try?”

He holds the pouch of bird feed out to Deidara, but Deidara refuses to lift his head again.

Obito sighs through his nose and puts the pouch away. The bird hops toward him and makes a fuss.

“Sorry, little bird,” Obito mutters. He reaches into the cage and the bird pecks at his finger.

“Ouch!” he hisses. He checks his finger for wounds and then shoves it into his pocket. He finds himself facing Deidara. He purses his lips and swings himself for a moment before saying, “Well, what were you working on then?”

Deidara glances away.

Obito doesn’t make a move to approach Deidara. He looks from where he is and nods. “That’s pretty good,” he says, looking at the familiar handwriting. “I guess you—your brother taught you how to write, huh?”

Deidara flinches in his seat.

“I think it looks great, your writing,” Obito says quickly. He then perks up and says, “I just remembered that my, uh, my father told me to do something. So, I must go now.”

He takes a step forward, then he stops himself. He clears his throat and heads toward the door. He reaches for the handle and just holds it.

“I hope you enjoy your gifts,” Obito says over his shoulder. He stares at Deidara’s back and the way his hair shines under the sunlight. “I went through a lot of trouble convincing my father to place orders on some of the stuff. I hope you… I hope you find a sense of familiarity in those things and feel a lot more at home. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

Obito licks his lips and, nodding to himself, slides open the door and leaves. He shuts the door behind him and huffs, nodding to himself once more.

Deidara doesn’t move until he hears Obito’s footsteps disappear. He sighs and his shoulders sag. He looks up at the bird and finds it staring at the pouch. He looks at his ruined writing before he stands and grabs the pouch.

He feeds the bird and watches it flap its wings. Sometimes, he sees it staring out into the sky and tweeting at the other birds that fly by. However, it doesn’t do anything else other than that. It continues to eat until it is no longer interested. It flaps its wings again, then lifts one and starts to preen.

Deidara sets away the pouch and the ruined paper and sits down to watch the bird clean itself. He watches until the bird is done and starts to settle down. When the bird has fallen asleep, Deidara takes a deep breath and looks down at the box.

He is motionless for a while, just staring at the box. He rolls his eyes and crawls toward it. He unclasps it, removes the lid, and sets it down.

Inside are neatly packed bricks of clay, all wrapped in a type of parchment paper. Deidara traces the paper with his fingers and he stifles a gasp. He presses the back of his hand against his mouth and smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a short chapter, sort of like a filler episode in _Naruto_. I wanted to do this sequence to show how ~deeeply in love~ Deidara is, and also because I planned a really dramatic bit that I thought would be way better if it is its own chapter.
> 
> Stay safe, y'all.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	16. The Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

The servants murmur among themselves as they wait for the tea to brew. They glance at Deidara, who is playing with his fingers, and then murmurs some more.

Sakura hums and the servants stop their gossiping. They turn to the lady and ask if she would like the light tea or the dark one.

“The dark one is fine,” Sakura replies. She watches as the Fubuki bat away the others’ hands and pours her the tea. With a silent look, Sakura silences the obvious question that Fubuki wants to ask and takes the tea from her.

She takes a sip from the tea. She closes her eyes and inhales. “This is good tea,” she says to no one. The servants murmur their agreement.

“Fubuki’s the best at making tea,” Watame says.

Sakura hums, then turns to Deidara. He is still sitting alone near the bed and staring down at his hands. “Would you care to join us, Deidara?” she asks.

There is a moment of silence. The servants and Sakura all focus on their tea, but the moment Deidara moves, they all sit up.

He walks slowly to Sakura’s side, then he kneels down and murmurs into her ear, “I want to talk to you alone, yeah.”

Sakura nods. She takes another sip of her tea and sets down the cup. “Let’s go to the garden,” she mutters back. Deidara nods and turns. She gestures to the servants and they stay where they are as she follows him.

He slides open the door and lets Sakura step through, then he shuts it behind him and sits down by the edge of the pathway. Sakura sits down next to him.

“What do you want to talk about?” she asks.

He is silent.

Sakura nods her head a little and leans back on her hands. She looks up at the sky and says, “It’s a great day out. I wonder what Tobi is doing?”

“He’s going out to get me more clay,” Deidara says quickly, then he clears his throat and says, “I think I need to come clean to him soon, hm.”

Sakura glances at him. “It’s bound to happen sooner or later. I thought you wanted to run away, though.”

Deidara closes his eyes. He picks at the skin surrounding his nails. “Yeah,” he says, “I did want to do it, but I… I think I changed my mind.”

“You think?”

“Well, there’s just something—I mean, I feel like I don’t really…” Deidara trails off and he clears his throat again. He turns away from Sakura and stares at the pond at the far side of the garden.

They sit in a moment of silence, then Deidara murmurs under his breath, “I think I like it here. I like… I like being around Tobi, yeah.”

Sakura says nothing at first, but then she says, “What do you mean?”

Deidara clicks his tongue. He pulls his legs up to his chest and wraps his arms around them. He buries his face between his knees and mutters, “I don’t know. It’s… I don’t know, hm. I just like being around him, yeah.”

Sakura hums. She stares at the sky, watching the clouds drift by. “You like that he’s your husband, huh?” she prods.

Deidara nods.

“You like him, don’t you?”

“What? I mean—I mean, yes, of course, I do, hm. I would have slit his throat and fled this place during the first night if I didn’t.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

Deidara says nothing.

“Are you gay, Deidara?” Sakura asks.

Deidara sputters. He puts his legs down and glares at Sakura. “What? No! I’m—There’s no way. I am not—!”

Sakura waves a hand at him. “It would make sense,” she says, “since you’ve never really shown any interest towards girls, despite being surrounded with them since birth.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, hm,” says Deidara. “There’s just—I just haven’t met the right person.”

“Sure,” Sakura says, “but what about Kurotsuchi? She was pretty clear about her feelings towards you and you never reciprocated.”

“She’s more of a sister to me,” Deidara replies.

At Sakura’s look, he hurries to add, “That doesn’t mean anything. She’s just—She acts too much like Ino sometimes. I can’t really—You know, it’s hard to—You’re getting it all wrong, okay? When you’re not interested in someone, you’re just not interested, hm!”

“Alright,” Sakura says. “What about that person in Suna? You have to have told your sister to go there for a reason.”

“My old classmate, from the art academy,” replies Deidara. “I don’t see what’s so important about him—”

“Ah, so it’s a him,” Sakura says.

“No, no, no,” Deidara says quickly. “Stop talking right now, hm!”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Sakura says with a shrug.

“You were,” says Deidara.

Sakura gives him a smirk. “Tell me about how you feel about the man, then,” she says.

“No,” Deidara says.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not important!”

“Did you like the guy?”

“What?”

“The guy from Suna. Did you like him?”

Deidara scoffs. “Of course, I liked him. I had to. He sits next to me in class.”

“You sure do feel forced to like a lot of men.”

Deidara clicks his tongue and looks away. “I admired him,” he says. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“That’s enough for me,” Sakura says. “So, what are you going to do?”

“What?”

“What are you going to do about your feelings towards Obito?”

“I don’t have—No, I don’t have _feelings_ towards him, yeah.”

“Well, no matter how hard you try to deny it,” says Sakura, “you clearly do. You might not know what kind of feelings these are yet, but you can’t say that you don’t have any.”

Deidara huffs. “I don’t—”

“Listen, Deidara,” Sakura says, “I’ve heard the way you talk about him. I’ve seen the way you look at him. I’ve seen the way you look when you think about him. It’s not up to debate. I don’t care if you’re gay, or if you just have feelings for Tobi, but what I care about is that Tobi, as far as I know, has never shown any interest towards men. You have to tell him sooner or later because you can’t keep hiding forever.”

When Deidara doesn’t say anything, Sakura’s expression softens and she says, “I’m just looking out for you. I don’t know how he’d react if he finds out he’s been sharing a bed with a man. He doesn’t strike me as the type to tolerate being tricked.”

Deidara stares into space. He thinks about that one night and then he shuts his eyes and shakes his head. “I—” he starts but he cuts himself off. He sighs. “What do you want me to do, then, huh?” he asks.

“You can come clean. Tell him how you feel. Sooner rather than later.”

“I… I can’t just do that,” Deidara mutters.

“Why not?”

“How would he respond? What if he wants to kill me because I tricked him? What if he thinks I’m disgusting and kicks me out? What if he tells everyone?”

“I don’t think you should be focusing on that.”

“You don’t understand,” Deidara says. “I’m—I’m not like you, okay? I’m a man. Men shouldn’t like men that way, hm. I can’t—If I even have those kinds of feelings for Tobi, he will never return them. I can’t just—I can’t just express my feelings to him. You—You wouldn’t get it.”

Sakura scoffs and sports a distant look. “Yeah, I guess I could never understand,” she says with a sad smile.

“What?”

Sakura shakes her head. “Nothing,” she says. “Still, I think you should do it. I’d rather you get it over with. Either you suffer in silence or suffer something else that is much worse than that when he finds out on his own.”

Deidara is quiet for a moment. He stares at the ground, watching the way the ants move on top of the gravel.

“Just think about it. Better it come from your mouth than him finding out on his own.”

Deidara shakes his head. “Do you think he hates me, hm?” he asks in a quiet tone.

“Huh?”

“He hasn’t really—Well, maybe I’m thinking too much about it, but I feel like he hasn’t really tried to be as affectionate as he did before.”

Sakura hums. “Well, I did notice that he hasn’t called you his wife in a while.”

“Do you think he hates me?” Deidara asks again.

“Why would he?”

“A wife that never responds to her husband,” says Deidara. “Even the warmest sun would cool to that.”

“I can’t say,” Sakura says, “but I don’t think he does. He never really talked about it with Sasuke, so I’ve never really heard. Maybe we can ask the girls.”

Deidara rubs his face with his hands, pressing his fingers against his eyes. After a few moments, he mutters into his palms, “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so, it's my bad that I uploaded late this time. I already have this one planned out so it didn't really take me that long to write it (like, in two days), but I got roped into this stupid clicker game on Discord and I didn't ease up on just constantly spamming the same button over and over again until yesterday.
> 
> I have chapter seventeen planned as well but I'm not going to promise that I can finish it quickly because damn, I love me some mindless, clicky-clicky games.
> 
> Oh, and that "really dramatic" bit that I promised the last chapter? Yeah... I didn't make it happen.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	17. The Confession, Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

When they slide the doors open, all the girls struggle to lean away from them. They scramble over each other to get back to the table, each grabbing their own cup of tea and pretending they weren’t eavesdropping on their conversation.

Deidara glances at Sakura, but she just shakes her head. She motions for him to sit and she settles back on her original seat. She grabs her cup of tea, finding it refilled, and takes a sip.

“So,” Suisei says, “how was your talk?”

Deidara doesn’t say anything. He plays with his nails, digging them into the edges to chip the paint. Sakura puts down her cup and sighs.

“He wants to confess,” she says.

The servants burst into an act of mock surprise. Some of them cover their mouths, two of them put their hands on Deidara’s arm. They all murmur, but eventually, when Fubuki clears her throat, they all quiet down.

“It’s good that you want to do that, Master Deidara,” Fubuki says. “From what I’ve heard, they’re beginning to get suspicious.”

Sakura lowers her cup. “What do you mean?”

“Surely, you have heard, my lady?” Fubuki says. “I have heard whispers between Master Itachi and Master Sasuke. They were discussing Master Obito’s wife and wondering why she never participates in family events.”

“Wait,” Korone says, “wouldn’t confessing just make everything more complicated? Sure, Master Obito would know, but he can’t just really tell the rest of his family. Hell, he might not even be able to stand that his wife has been a man the entire time!”

“I have a feeling he doesn’t mind,” murmurs Matsuri.

“What?” asks the rest of the servants.

“Nothing,” says Matsuri with a grin.

“Let’s say that Master Obito doesn’t mind that his wife is Deidara,” Suisei says, “how can they keep the secret forever? You can only use ‘too shy’ and ‘feeling unwell’ as an excuse to escape family social events for so many times.”

Deidara sighs through his nose. “And his parents want grandkids,” he mutters. “Tobi’s been talking to me about it. He’s trying to pretend it doesn’t affect him, but I know he’s being pressured, hm.” He sighs again and trails patterns on the wooden table. “He wants kids too; I can sense it.”

Sakura gives Deidara a sad expression. Okayu puts a hand on his shoulder.

“That is a conundrum,” Sakura says, “but you said you wanted to tell Tobi, right?”

Deidara nods.

“So, I think you can cross that bridge when it comes to it. Right now, you need to come clean. If Tobi accepts it, we will have one more person to cover for you. In fact, his help would benefit us a lot. He can do more than me. I don’t have much say in the Uchiha family.”

Deidara rests his elbows on the table and presses his forehead against his palms.

“Can you help me?”

“With what?”

“With telling him the truth,” Deidara says. “I don’t think I can do it alone. I… I can’t imagine speaking to him, yeah.”

Sakura shakes her head. “Deidara, I know this is scary, but I don’t think me or the girls being there would help much. You have to do this alone.”

Deidara grunts. He slides down lower and rests his head on the table. Sakura taps him on the head.

“Ladies don’t act—”

“—act like this,” Deidara finishes her sentence. “Yeah, yeah,” he murmurs. He sits back up, but he still props his head up with one hand. He looks out of a window and into the back garden. “I just can’t imagine speaking out. Maybe I should just write a letter, hm.”

“That could work,” says Matsuri. “You can even explain everything to him so that he gets to hear the entire side of your story. If he hears you talk, he might just shut you out and refuse to listen.”

“Surprisingly insightful and helpful advice coming from you, Matsuri,” says Korone.

“What? I have my moments,” replies Matsuri.

“So, can you help me?” Deidara asks.

The girls look at each other, then at Deidara, then back to each other.

“I don’t think we should be part of this,” Sakura says slowly, after exchanging a look with Fubuki. “This is between you and Tobi, so you should be the one to do it.”

“But—” Deidara protests, but Sakura cuts him off with a lift of her hand.

“I understand that you’re worried and – I think I speak for everyone here – we have your back. If anything happens, we’ll help you,” says Sakura. “We can get you a ride to Suna and you can be with your sister.”

“We’ll do our best,” says Matsuri, “though I will be sad that there wouldn’t be any guy on guy action if that ever happens.”

“Shut up,” hisses Watame. She slaps Matsuri on the wrist and Matsuri yelps in pain.

Deidara shakes his head. “Thanks,” he mutters, “I really appreciate it.”

Sakura nods. “No problem,” she says. “I’m sorry we can’t help any more than that, but I think it’s only right that you do this yourself.”

“I get it,” he replies. “It’s personal, yeah.”

They talk for a while more, then the servants pack up the tea set and Sakura stands. “We should go,” she says. “People would be wondering why half the servants aren’t working.”

Deidara snorts. “As if they work regularly anyway,” he says.

“Hey!” shouts Korone. “That is not true, we do work!”

“Sure, sure,” Deidara mutters. “Whatever you say, hm.”

Watame shakes her head and murmurs under her breath, “This kid…”

The girls get ready to leave, but before Suisei steps out of the room, she stops and turns back to Deidara.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” she says. She reaches into her kimono and pulls out a small, folded up piece of paper. “We got this in the mail collection today,” says Suisei. “It says it’s for Ino, so I’ll just give it to you.”

Deidara takes the paper from her and murmurs his thanks. He slides the door shut once she leaves. He heads back to the middle of the room, sets the letter down, and sits on one of the cushions.

Although the name on the letter says it is addressed to Ino, it is clear to Deidara that this is written by his sister. Deidara stills, takes a deep breath, and opens the letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have lost the concept of time. Also, I wanted to separate the original plan I had for this chapter into two bits once again, since I accidentally separated this part from the previous chapter as they were supposed to be one. I forgot to flip the pages when I wrote the damned thing. So, now we're all stuck with this pretend-filler chapter that actually serves minimal advancement to the plot and would be way better if it was just part of the last chapter, to begin with.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	18. The Confession, Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

Deidara sits by the garden, legs swinging. He toys with the corner of the letter. He shuts his eyes, breathes deeply, and looks back down at the paper.

He unfolds it and reads through it again.

“Brother,” Ino writes in the letter, “I have arrived at Suna with Sai and we were found by Sasori with no issues. He is as exactly as you described, and he did not speak a single word of disrespect to me after my fist met his jaw.”

Deidara smiles. He scans through some of the sentences and continues to read.

“I have heard about the wedding and Tobi’s silent bride. I’m sorry that father did this to you. I never thought he would resort to something like this. Perhaps you should escape to Suna with us, I am sure Sasori would have a place for you to stay.”

He stops reading and rests his arms on his lap. He sits in silence for a moment, eyes closed, and breathing in the early morning air. The wind blows against the bamboo leaves that line the edges of the garden and the rustle makes Deidara smile.

Then, the door behind him slides open and Obito stands beside him. Deidara hurriedly folds up the letter and shoves it into his kimono. Obito stutters, but he clears his throat and says, “Hey.”

Deidara looks down at his lap.

Obito sighs and sits down beside him. Deidara can barely feel his warmth as another gust of wind washes over them. They sit together in silence, listening out to the gentle trickle of water and the rustling leaves.

“So, you were reading a letter, huh?” Obito asks.

Deidara doesn’t look at him. He says nothing.

“Private stuff?” Obito continues. “From your, uh, from your brother?”

Deidara pauses, glances at Obito, then nods.

Obito smiles. “I guess you two still have secrets to share,” he says. He presses his lips into a thin line and looks out into the garden. A few moments pass and Obito opens his mouth, but then he stops himself and licks his lips.

Deidara watches him, his heartbeat in his ears. He tries to look away, staring at this pond and that bamboo shoot, but his gaze eventually wanders back to Obito and he nearly jumps when he finds Obito staring straight at him.

“We all have our secrets, right?” he says when he notices Deidara look back.

Deidara shrugs.

“I guess you do too,” Obito says. He looks down at the wooden deck and toys with a splinter in the paneling. “I can’t help but notice you are more distant than before like there’s something on your mind. I guess if you don’t mind, you can share it with me. We are married, after all.”

Deidara turns to face Obito fully, eyes wide. He opens his mouth and closes it, then he bites his lower lip and looks away. He watches as the distant clouds float further and further away from them, and then Obito inhales and says, “If there’s anything you want to tell me. You can. I won’t—I’ll try my best to listen and understand whatever it is that you need from me.”

A few more moments pass and the sky is now clear of any clouds. Obito breathes heavily and says, “I guess some secrets aren’t meant to be shared.” He offers Deidara a sad smile and gives him a squeeze on the shoulder.

Then, he stands and leaves through their bedroom.

Deidara remains where he is. He reaches up and grips at his chest, the letter hidden within his kimono crinkles under his hand. He bites his lip, eyebrows furrowed, and taps his fingers against the wooden deck.

Gritting his teeth, Deidara gets up on his feet and walks into the bedroom.

Obito isn’t here. He looks around for a few more times before he takes out the letter from his kimono and tosses it onto his table. Deidara grabs a few sheets of paper from Obito’s desk and kneels in front of his own.

Deidara takes a deep breath, and then another, and then another. He squeezes his eyes shut, clenches his fists, and exhales. He opens his eyes and takes out his ink and brush. He dips his brush and starts to write on the first sheet.

-

When Obito returns to the bedroom a few hours later, he is greeted by the sight of Deidara sitting neatly in the middle of the room. He clears his throat and Deidara looks up from his position at the center table.

He pauses in his step when he notices Deidara’s clenched jaw and fists, as well as the piece of folded paper in front of him.

Deidara stares back down at his lap. His hair falls to hide his face and Obito continues to stand there, tension in his shoulders.

Deidara grabs the paper and stands. He bows his head and shoves it into Obito’s chest before he walks out of the room and into the garden. Obito blinks at his blurry silhouette through the sliding door and holds the paper to his chest.

Obito looks down at the paper and flips it over, realizing that it’s a letter. He frowns, eyebrows furrowing, and goes to sit down where Deidara was just moments before. He reads the familiar handwriting on the top of the paper and presses his mouth into a thin line.

“Read all of this before you come to talk to me. I will wait for twenty minutes, any later than that and I will assume you don’t want to speak to me ever again.”

He huffs. Obito glances over his shoulder and at the silhouette again. He watches as Deidara paces up and down the deck.

Obito takes a deep breath and unfolds the letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am starting my postgraduate degree today! I am very excited. It is - again - a writing course, so I might get writing burnout more often. Fortunately, it's not a three-year course. Unfortunately, because it's a one-year course, it means it's a lot more intense so I'm not sure if that would affect my writing fanfiction in my spare-time.
> 
> I hope it doesn't, I do have a lot of ideas that I want to write about.
> 
> Also, I split this chapter into two because I like that it ended naturally here. Adding more would just ruin it, in my opinion. I know it's a short chapter considering that it took me - what - a week to update and I have no excuses for it. Apologies. orz
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


	19. The Confession, Part Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd.

It doesn’t take him long to finish reading. Obito purses his lips and runs his fingers against the dried ink on the paper. He leans back and lays on the floor, folding his arms to pillow his head. Obito stares at the ceiling for a while, eyes following the wooden support beams. He glances at the doors that lead to the garden.

He sees Deidara’s silhouette sitting on the edge of the wooden deck.

Obito stays there, on the ground, for a moment before he gets up and heads to the doors. He reaches to slot his fingers into the handle, but he stops himself just short, staring at Deidara’s silhouette.

He just sits there. Obito bites his lower hip, takes a deep breath, and slides the door open.

Deidara turns around the moment the door opens. He stares at him with wide eyes and Obito looks back at him. He opens his mouth, pauses, then closes it. Obito taps his fingers against the frame of the door. He stares at Deidara’s hands, but he notices his rapid breathing. He shuts his eyes and says, “Do you want to come in?”

When he receives no response, he opens his eyes. Deidara hasn’t moved. He takes another deep breath and gestures to the inside of the room. “I think it’s better if we talked inside,” he says. “So other people won’t overhear us.”

Deidara flinches at the sound of his voice. He sits there for a few moments more before he stands up. They stare at each other, right into each other’s eyes. Obito gestures at the room again. He can see Deidara tense, his fists clenching and unclenching.

Obito licks his lips. “I won’t hurt you,” he says, “I promise.”

It takes a while, but Deidara eventually takes a step forward. Obito gives him a small smile and steps back into the bedroom. He sits down in front of the letter and doesn’t look up until he hears the door slide close.

Deidara sits down across from him, eyes still on him. Obito waits until he is completely seated and still before he speaks.

“So,” Obito says slowly, “you’re Deidara.”

Deidara nods.

Obito nods as well. “You helped your sister run away to Suna because she’s already in love with someone else.”

Deidara nods.

Obito rests his elbows on the table and leans on them. He watches Deidara for a while. His jaw is clenched and he is staring straight at his lap. Obito’s gaze trails down his chest and back onto the table. He looks down at the letter.

“That really does put a lot of sense to things,” says Obito. He pauses, eyeing Deidara, then he heaves a sigh and says, “I suppose that’s not enough to break your silent spell?”

Deidara’s gaze flickers up to him but he says nothing. He looks back down at his lap.

“What are we going to do, then?” asks Obito.

Deidara looks up, eyebrows furrowed.

Obito waves a hand. “We can’t hide it forever. They’re already suspicious about it now. What kind of person refuses to talk to their own husband for half a year?”

Deidara frowns.

“Yeah, yeah,” murmurs Tobi. “Regardless, I hope you’ve thought of something to hold my family back because they’ve been wondering.”

At Deidara’s expression, Obito chuckles to himself. “I guess you’re wondering why I’m so calm. Let me tell you something funny. I’ve heard this story before,” he says slowly. “I think it was about half a year ago, just a day or two after the—well, you know – and that’s when I heard it.”

He pauses to watch Deidara, but Deidara isn’t looking at him. He is staring at his lap once again.

“Don’t think too much about it. God knows I’ve had too much time to mull over it myself,” says Obito. “What we need to focus on right now is what we need to do moving forward.”

“Hold on—” says Deidara.

“—Ah, he speaks—”

“—You’ve known?”

Obito shuts his eyes. “It’s great to hear you speak, even though it’s not the voice that I expect. Though I must admit, it’s been a while since I’ve heard it.”

“You knew, hm.”

“Well, yes,” says Obito. “I might be a bit slow on a few things but I’m certainly not stupid.”

Deidara scoffs. He reaches for his letter. Obito slaps his hand down on the paper. Deidara pulls his hand back.

“The day after,” Obito explains, “I went to grab you for lunch. You were talking to Sakura and I overheard.”

Deidara folds his hands on his lap. He nods.

“I thought it was disgusti—weird at first, but then I had more time to think it over and while I probably wouldn’t do exactly what you are doing now, I would do something similar for my brothers. They’re annoying, but they’re still my brothers.”

He looks down at the letter. “I admire you, you know,” Obito says. “I would never… I can’t see myself doing something like this. It takes a lot to do what you’re doing. You’re very brave.”

Deidara rolls his eyes. “It was touching the first five times I’ve heard it, yeah.”

Obito frowns. “Who else have you told?”

“The servants.”

“Ah,” Tobi nods. He crosses his arms and leans back. “That makes sense.”

“So, what now?”

“Well, it depends on whether or not you want to stay here,” Obito says. He looks down at the letter again. “I’m assuming you want to.”

“I’ve nowhere else to go,” murmurs Deidara.

Obito hums, but he says nothing. “You could go to where your sister is. If you’re there, you won’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not.”

“Are you kicking me out?”

“I’m—Well, it’s just… I don’t want you to suffer.”

Deidara shakes his head.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want to stay here?”

Deidara narrows his eyes.

Obito holds up his hands. “I’m just asking. I’m not trying to get rid of you, I promise. I think… I think if I understand why, I’ll be able to help you more.”

“I feel… I feel like I’m safer here,” Deidara says.

“How so?”

“I don’t know,” he says through gritted teeth. “I just do. I feel like my father has always been really controlling and he never lets me do anything I want, yeah.”

“Making art?”

“Having friends.”

“He doesn’t let you have friends?”

Deidara shrugs. “Something about how I looked when I played with others as a kid.”

“Strange.”

“And I don’t want to live in the middle of the desert. As much as Ino is great company, I think I’ve grown to quite enjoy the luxurious life of being the wife of the great Uchiha samurai, hm.”

“Alright,” says Obito with a smile, “but if you want to stay here, we have to do something to convince the others. Do you have anything in mind?”

“What?”

“I mentioned before that my parents are expecting some grandchildren soon,” says Obito. “Obviously, we can’t give them that and they’re not going to accept ‘we’re not ready’ anymore.”

“Why not?”

“They’ve heard it too much,” says Obito with a shrug.

“Having children should be the decision of the parents, not grandparents, hm.”

Obito lets out a soft laugh. “That it is,” he says, “but what if I want kids, too?”

Deidara frowns. “Do you?”

Obito shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t mind.”

“You don’t know, or you don’t mind?”

Obito shrugs again. “Forget it,” he says, “we have other things to worry about.”

Deidara makes a huffing noise. “We can pretend,” he mutters.

“What was that?”

“We can pretend we are expecting,” Deidara says with a grimace. “Then we can say we lost it. They won’t bother with us about it for a while if we did that, hm.”

Obito’s eyebrows furrow. He taps at his elbow. “That could work,” he says. “They’ll also understand why you’d want to stay in and leave you alone.”

“Alright,” says Deidara.

“It’s a deal,” Obito says. He reaches out a hand.

Deidara stares at his hand, eyes occasionally glancing back at Obito’s face. Obito keeps a steady smile. Deidara takes a deep breath and shakes his hand.

“It’s a deal, hm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuses as to why I've split "The Confession" into four parts when it could be split into two instead. I made a mistake in reading my notes and that's my bad. I hope this chapter is of an acceptable word-count range because I'm much better at writing dialogue than without.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


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